Forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest
by Riley Maiyer
Summary: Set during The Dawn Treader. What if Eustace had a girl chosen by their parents to marry him in the future? What if she got to Narnia with him and Edmund and Lucy? A tale of friendship, adventure and forbidden love. Edmund/OC/Eustace.
1. Chapter 1

**Forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest. **

**Summary: Set during The Dawn Treader. What if Eustace had a girl chosen by their parents to marry him in the future? What if she got to Narnia with him and Edmund and Lucy? A tale of friendship, adventure and forbidden love. Edmund/OC/Eustace.**

**A/N**. **So, hello everyone! This is my first try at Narnia, so go easy on me) I watched the Dawn Treader for the third time today and felt like I had to do it. I can't help it- I just LOOOVE Edmund so much, he's strong, brave, humorous and simply the hottest thing!** And since Eustace and his family are so obnoxious and uptight, an arranged future marriage is just something they would do, I think it makes sense. Though this is set during the movie, I will not write line for line all the time, cause' then it won't be much of a fanfic now, would it?) I will add some small changes. For example: when Edmund, Lucy, Eustace and my OC are on the ship everyone will have their own cabin, instead of sleeping all together in one room.**

**I have a fairly good idea of what I'm doing here, but don't hesitate with suggestions and other tips if you feel like it. I hope it turns out good.) Enjoy!**

Сhapter 1.

Eustace Scrubb was lying on his bed, busily writing in his diary. "Dear Diary, it is now day 253 since my wretched cousins Edmund and Lucy invaded our house. Not sure how much longer I can cope living with them. If only one could treat relatives like wandering insects, all my problems would be solved. I could simply put them in a jar, or pin them to my wall. I can't imagine why Edelle likes them so much. I mean, every time I invite her to my house she stops to chat with them. Lucy even thinks of her as her best friend. My mother (to the Pevensies- Aunt Alberta) thinks I should stop bringing her to the house that often, while my cousins are still here. Sure, I will stop bringing home the only thing that gives me the tiniest bit of happiness! Yeah, right! I tried to ask her why she thinks it is necessary, but she didn't explain, just shot a mean look at Edmund. I didn't understand it then, but a couple of days ago I think I started to catch up on mother's worries. Edelle is spending way too much time with him than she should. They talk and laugh together and seem to be enjoying each other's company. Oh well, why am I worried anyway? Our parents have long ago decided that she will marry me when we grow up, even though she is older than me. It has something to do with our fathers' businesses. I know she doesn't like me much, but it's not gonna change anything..."

He stopped writing when he heard the door close downstairs. Lucy and Edmund returned from the market. He hid his diary in his sock and headed downstairs. Halfway down he heard Lucy's voice

"Uncle Harold, we're back. I tried to find some carrots, but all they had were turnips again. Shall I start making soup?"

The man in the armchair didn't reply and proceeded reading his newspaper.

"Uncle Harold?" Lucy tried to get his attention once more and then he heard another girl's voice.

"Don't take it personally, Lu. He's probably not in the mood. Good day, Mr. Scrubb!"

That voice Eustace knew all-too well. Edelle.

Edelle Jade Gilbert was sixteen years old. She had gorgeous golden-blonde hair that cascaded down to almost her waist, big brown eyes, cherry-red lips, flawless tanned skin and a perfect body complexion. She always looked like she was glowing, she was just radiating beauty. Her colours where red, white and black. She was smart, kind-hearted and polite but at the same time, mischievous, bold and extremely fun-loving. She was the type of girl that believed that marriage is something made to bond two loving hearts, so when she heard that her parents set her up with Eustace Scrubb she was...well, "furious" is a kind word for it. She locked herself in the room and only came out at night to get some food and water. She even tried to run away once, but was quickly found and returned back home. After that incident her mother spent almost an hour yelling at her, saying that, whether Edelle liked it or not, the marriage will take place once Eustace turns eighteen and if she does anything, anything at all to get in the way of it, they will just throw her out as a "useless, ungrateful burden". Times were hard and Edelle didn't have a choice. She had to give in, and so, there she was now-smiling to her parents, visiting Eustace, pretending that she's okay with it.

She was ecstatic when Eustace mentioned that his two cousins where coming to live with him until the war ends. For a long time, there wasn't any good company for her, except for that conservative, uptight, way too serious about everything snob, Eustace. She was dying to meet someone new and when she did, she wasn't disappointed. Lucy Pevensie was the sweetest girl. Even though, she was two years younger, like Eustace, she was nothing like him. She was kind, gentle and always complimented Edelle about how beautiful she was. They always had something to talk about and soon they became great friends. As for Edmund...he was the most handsome boy/man she had ever seen. And a wonderful person too. They had talked a lot and she could clearly see an interesting, brave and humorous boy. She just loved the way he occasionally scolded Eustace for this and that. He even almost hit him at times, but Edelle and Lucy always managed to pull him away on time. Everyone, including Eustace, knew that Edmund was a lot stronger and if they attempt a fight, Eustace would be sent to knock-out within five seconds. But he also knew, that this was his house and if Edmund even tried to land a punch on him, he would have to face Uncle Harold and, what's worse, Aunt Alberta. During the few weeks, Edmund and Lucy had grown so close to Edelle that one day they decided to tell her about Narnia. At first, she didn't believe them, who would? But then again, why would they want to lie to her about something like that? She always wanted to believe in magic and besides, what did she have if not belief? So, she always sat and listened in fascination about their adventures in Narnia and got annoyed at Eustace when he mocked them for it.

Today Edelle accompanied Lucy and Edmund to the market and they have just returned. Uncle Harold never liked the Pevensies and even when Lucy was trying to be polite, like now, he was still being mean.

"I said, good day, !" she repeated, a bit annoyed for her friend and after a minute she heard the man in the armchair mutter "Hello, Edelle." and then he got back to reading. She sighed and turned around to see Edmund making a face at the man and giggled.

"Father, Edmund is making faces at you!"

They turned around and saw Eustace standing on the stairs. Suddenly he got out a tube and threw a paper spit-ball at Edmund.

"Why you little..." Edmund hissed in fury and rushed to him.

"Father, he's gonna hit me!" Eustace whined. Edmund was merely a feet away when Lucy reappeared in the room and shouted

"Edmund look!-she held up a letter that's just arrived-it's from Susan!"

After a minute Lucy, Edmund and Edelle where in Lucy's room, reading the letter.

"I do wish you were here with us. It's been such an adventure, but nothing like our times in Narnia. America is very exciting, except we never see father, he works so very hard. I was invited to the British consul's tea party by a naval officer who happens to be very handsome. I think he fancies me. It seems the Germans have made crossing difficult right now. Mother hopes you both wouldn't mind another few months in Cambridge."

Lucy stopped reading and looked at Edmund.

"Another few months? How will we survive?"

Edmund sighed and sat on the bed next to her. "You're lucky, at least you got your own room. I'm stuck with mullet mouth."

Lucy got up and walked to the mirror. "Do you think I look anything like Susan?"

Edelle raised her eyebrows. She knew that Lucy wasn't very comfortable with herself-they had talked about it a couple of times, and every time she tried to convince her that she is not so bad-looking herself, but she wouldn't listen.

Edmund sighed, as he was also getting tired of that question and decided to change the subject.

"Lucy, have you seen this ship before?" he got up and walked towards a painting on a wall. It showed sea and a ship in the waves.

"Yes, it's very Narnian-looking, isn't it?"

Edelle got up and went to it too. "Narnian-looking? Have you been on a ship like that?"

Edmund lightly shook his head. "No, but I think if narnians built a ship-that's exactly what it would look like."

"There once where two orphans, who wasted their time, believing in Narnian nursery rhime."

They turned around and saw Eustace in the doorway, listening to the whole conversation.

"Please let me hit him!" Edmund asked the girls and Edelle grabbed his arm.

"As much as I'd love to see you take him down, I don't want you getting in trouble! Eustace,..-she calmly walked to him-..I don't know how to tell you this...go away!"

"Don't you knock?" Edmund said, clearly not pleased with his presence either.

"It's my house, I do as I please! You're just guests. Excuse me, Edelle."

She rolled her eyes and turned to the painting again.

Eustace crossed the room and sat on the bed. "What's so fascinating about that picture anyway? It's hideous!"

"You won't see it from the other side of the door." Edmund said, not looking at him.

"It looks like the water is actually moving." Lucy said in wonder.

"What rubbish!-Eustace muttered-That's what happens when people read all those fairytales of yours."

Edmund, still looking at the picture, responded "There once was a boy named Eustace, who read books full of facts that were useless."

Edelle and Lucy smiled and Eustace continued, ignoring the remark "People, who read fairytales are always the sort that become a hideous burden to people like me..."

At that Edmund's back stiffened and Edelle shot Lucy an alert look. If there was a time when you thought "Oh, you shouldn't have said that", this would be it. Edmund turned around so he was facing him and furrowed his eyebrows; Eustace didn't get the danger sign and continued talking

"...who read books of real information."

Edmund started walking towards him. "Hideous burden? I haven't seen you lift a finger since we got here!"

Eustace quickly got up and reached for the doorknob, but Edmund was faster and pushed the door closed with his hand, making Eustace back up.

"Maybe I should tell it was you who stole Aunt Alberta's sweets!"

"Liar!"

"Oh, really now? I found them under your bed and, guess what? I licked every one of them!"

"Urgh! I'm infected with you!..."

While they were arguing, Edelle and Lucy saw water coming out of the frame! They both cried in unison "Edmund, the painting!"

Edmund was merely a second away from punching Eustace when the girls got his attention as he looked at the picture and froze.

**So, how was it? I tried my best so please review and t****ell me what you think, 'cause reviews are what gives me some inspiration and what keeps me going. Do you like it so far? What do you think about Edelle? Should I even continue? Please let me know! Thank you! *love you all*.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N. Thank you SO much to all my amazing reviewers, you're the best, guys!*huggles* **

**I hope you like this chapter, voila!)**

**Chapter 2.**

Edmund stared in dumbfound as water started coming out with greater force and huge gushes. Eustace noticed it too and stuttered wide-eyed "What's going on here? Stop that now!"

The room was already have filled up with water and Eustace rushed to the painting in attempt to destroy it "I'll smash it!"

"No!"

Edmund and the girls shouted and tried to stop him, but the torrents of water coming out were making it almost impossible to hold it and they dropped it. The water was rising and rising and then...the ground disappeared! The room filled up and the four found themselves under water. The furniture and walls were gone too. They swam up until they reached the surface. They took a breath and gasped when they found themselves in the middle of the ocean and the ship from the painting only a few feet away and heading them.

"Keep swimming!" Edmund shouted and so they did. Lucy saw several sailors jumping in the water and a minute later she was caught by one.

"You're alright! I got you!"

Lucy turned to look at the man and her face brightened as she recognized him.

"Caspian!-she shouted- Edmund, it's Caspian!"

Caspian smiled "Lucy! You're in Narnia!"

Edmund and the others stopped swimming and turned around and smiled widely, everyone, except Eustace of course. He was caught by a different sailor; he was struggling and shouting hysterically "I don't want to! I want to go back to England! Let me go!" But everyone ignored him as Caspian climbed on a platform with Lucy, and the sailors pulled it up. Then they got it down again for the others.

Edmund got on first. "Here, let me help." he said and offered Edelle his hand. She smiled and took it as she got out of the water. Edmund got a hold on the rope with one hand and wrapped the other around Edelle's waist.

"Hold on tight." he said and in a moment they were raised. They stepped down on the ship and Edelle gaped at the surroundings. She was in Narnia! So it IS true! Edmund looked at her and laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, you should see your face." he smiled. "But, gosh, I'd give up a lot to see Eustace's right now."

She chuckled and Edmund looked at Caspian, who was talking to Lucy.

"Caspian!" he called and walked to them.

"Edmund! Great to see you!" he hugged him and handed a towel. He looked at Edelle and extended a hand for a handshake. "My name is Caspian. I'm Edmund and Lucy's friend-last time they were here we fought together against my dictator-uncle."

She shook his hand with a friendly smile. "I know who you are; Edmund and Lucy told me so much about you. I'm Edelle, pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine, milady." he smiled and gallantly kissed her hand. She blushed a bit and noticed Edmund's expression stiffen.

Just then they heard some noise several feet away and turned around to see Eustace on the floor, hastily kicking and screaming, trying to get a giant mouse off of him. The mouse jumped off and ran to Caspian. Eustace scrambled to his feet with a horror-struck look on his face and shouted

"Th-that giant rat thing was trying to claw my face off!"

The mouse stood up on two feet "I was merely trying to expel the water from your lungs, sir!"

"He t-talks! D-did you see that? He just talked!"

"He always talks.-Caspian said calmly, his arms casually folded on his chest.-actually, it's getting him to shut up, that's the trick."

The mouse turned to him. "The moment there is nothing to be said, Your Highness, I promise you-I will not say it."

"Reepicheep!" Lucy cried with glee and the mouse took off his hat and bowed gallantly "Your majesties!"

"Hello, Reep. Great to see you!" Edmund smiled.

"Great to see YOU, sir!"

Edelle kneeled down and did her best to fight the impossible urge to pick him up and cuddle him like a bunny, he was so unbearably cute! But Lucy told her before, that such sort of behavior would highly offend him, as he was "A Narnian warrior" despite his size and cuteness.

"Hello, I'm Edelle. I've heard much of you too, brave warrior."

Reepicheep smiled and bowed again. "It's a pleasure to meet someone new from the other world. But what shall we do with this hysterical interloper?" he gestured to Eustace.

"Oh, that's Eustace. Pay him no mean."

Edmund chuckled "Yeah, as if that's possible. He's our cousin. Well, our parents say he is."

They all looked at Eustace as he proceeded screaming and threatening to sue them.

"Maybe we could throw him back." Reep joked. For a moment Edmund looked like he was taking it as an option.

"Edmund!" Lucy shouted, rebuking him and elbowed him on the side.

Edelle laughed and whispered so only Edmund would hear. "I'm with you on that one."

Eustace continued shouting. "Well, I don't know what kind of prank this is, but I want to wake up right now! I demand to know just where in the blazes am I!"

"You're on the Dawn Treader. The finest ship in Narnia's navy." a Minotaur informed him.

With that Eustace fainted. Apparently a talking Minotaur was too much for his fragile mind.

"Was there something I said?" the Minotaur questioned and everyone laughed.

Caspian turned back to Edmund, Edelle and Lucy. "How in the world did you end up here?"

"I have no idea -Lucy replied- Didn't you call for us?"

"No. Not this time."

"Well, whatever the case, -Edmund joined in- I'm just glad to be here."

"Me too! I can't believe I'm here; this is going to be such an adventure! We're going to have a great time!" Edelle said with sparks in her eyes and Edmund smiled

"That's the spirit!"

Caspian walked forward and announced.

"Men! Behold our castaways. Eustace, Lady Edelle, Edmund the Just and Lucy the Valiant-High King and Queen of Narnia!"

The entire crew bowed before them and Edelle leaned to Edmund. "Welcome home, your Majesty."

They shared a smile and turned to Caspian.

"Oh, how stupid of me- you probably want to change into something dry."

They nodded, as it was getting chilly, and followed Caspian into the ship.

**Weeell? How was it? Please be awesome and review! Thank you)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N. Hey) I won't be around the computer for a couple of days, so I decided to post this chapter now, as to compensate those days. I personally really like this chapter and I hope you will too. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 3.**

The four came downstairs to Caspian's cabin. He told them there was now peace across all Narnia and now he was looking for the seven lords of Telmar. His father's seven closest friends and most loyal supporters. They fled from Miraz to the Lone Islands but no one has heard from them since.

Edmund looked at the map, puzzled "So if there are no wars to fight and no one's in trouble, then why are we here?"

Caspian raised his eyebrows. "Good question. I've been asking myself the same thing. Lucy!-he turned to her- I believe this is yours." He opened the bookshelf and took out a red velvet box.

"My healing cordial! And dagger!" she took them and smiled at her most precious Narnian belongings. "I should go check on Eustace, he's probably still in shock." and she walked out.

Edmund and Edelle smiled and then something else caught Edmund's eye.

"Peter's sword..."

"Oh, yes. - Caspian took it from the corner and handed it to Edmund. -Looked after it, as promised. Here, hold it if you wish."

Edmund shook his head

"No. Peter gave it to you."

Caspian smiled. "I did save this for you, though." – He went back to the bookshelf and much to Edelle's shock, took out a flashlight!

Edmund took it and checked if it was still working. By some miracle, it was.

"Well, we will have to find you a sword soon, Edmund. Can't keep the High King defenseless."

Edmund grinned.

"Defenseless, huh? " he snatched a sword from Caspian and got into a "ready-to-fight" position. Edelle was a bit startled by his movement, but found herself quite excited to see Edmund in action.

"How about a little duel with a defenseless King?"

Caspian grinned widely and took out another sword. "You're on!"

"Hey, hey, guys!-Edelle stood between them for a moment.- I don't think a small cabin is the perfect place for a sword fight. Care to move to the upper deck?"

"You're right. Come on, Caspian, I hope three years without a good opponent didn't put you out of shape." Edmund teased with a cocky grin.

"Oh, you've done it now!" Caspian laughed and they raced to the upper deck.

Edelle watched in wonder at the amazing sword fight that was now took place on the deck. She tried to memorize some fighting tips and poses; she watched the dancing blades and listened to the clashing sounds of metal. But most of all, she was admiring Edmund. She knew that he had fought wars and led armies before, but still couldn't believe his magnificent fighting skills. She stared in fascination at his incredibly nimble movements. Even though the shirt he wore did a great job of hiding him, Edelle was more than sure that his body was perfectly sculpted. His top three buttons where open and she could occasionally catch a glimpse of his well defined chest. She had always thought that such things must be very tiring- the sword is heavy and you have to move really fast. But somehow, Edmund didn't seem to be tired at all! His movements were so light and looked so easy. Of course, she knew that it was years of practice. A fighting Edmund was truly a sight to behold.

After several more minutes of fighting Edelle saw Caspian's sword fly out of his hands and Edmund's sword tip at his throat. Edmund grinned and put his sword down. Caspian smiled, accepting Edmund's victory, and patted his shoulder.

"You've grown stronger, my friend."

Edmund smiled back. "Seems I have."

As Caspian went away to his cabin Edmund approached Edelle, who was leaning against the side of the ship, looking at the ocean. He snuck up on her from behind and suddenly poked her on her side. She let out a startled yelp and turned around to see a smirking and amused Edmund.

"Don't you do that!" she smacked him playfully on the shoulder. Edmund stood close to her and Edelle could feel his warm body against her side. They just stood there in awkward silence for a few moments, and then Edelle decided to break it.

"I was watching you fight Caspian just now.."

"I know."

She blushed a bit. "You know?"

He smiled at her. "Of course, everyone could see you burning a hole in me the entire fight."

She blushed even harder. Was she really being that obvious? Apparently, yes.

"Yeah...I guess I was...sorry, I didn't mean to stare like that, I just...You where brilliant out there."

"I was just trying to impress you. And don't be sorry. In fact, I'm really flattered that such a beauty was watching me the whole time."

She giggled at his compliment and decided that it was now Edmund's turn to blush. "Well, you sure did a great job at impressing me. You, with a sword, so determined to win, all of that...-she gestured to his undone top buttons-...every bit of sexy."

She looked at him for several minutes and then chuckled in amusement as Edmund's face flushed redder than red before he managed to utter

"Thank you..." he thought about something for a moment and then looked up at her "You know, Drinian said we will soon be heading land. We can't know what waits for us there and...I want you to be able to defend yourself in case I won't be around."

She looked him in the eyes "What do you mean? How can you not be around?"

"Like I said, we never know what can happen so..."

"NO! -she cut him off and put her hands on his shoulders- I don't want to hear any of this. You will teach me to fight, but only so I won't be useless in a battle. And you- will be careful no matter what happens and you will be around at all times!"

Edmund was taken aback by her commandive tone but it also felt amazing to know that she cared about him.

"Okay then. There isn't much space here but I know Caspian has a training room. It has a lot of space and all the weapons we need."

"Well, let's get going then." she let go of him and he immediately missed her clutch, but he knew that 'training' her will give him an excuse to touch her from time to time. He nodded his head and they went downstairs.

They found the room sooner than they thought. They opened the big double door with the Dawn Treader's symbol on it and Edelle gaped. The room was huge and almost empty, except for the numerous weapons scattered all around the floor and leaning against walls.

Edmund took Edelle's hand and led her to the centre. He picked up a sword and handed it to her. She took it and took a moment to get used to it. It was quite heavy and she thanked heavens that she was a strong girl. She looked up and saw Edmund smiling and waiting for her to come back from her little world.

"Aren't you gonna get your sword out?"

"Not so fast. -he laughed- first we have to teach you to pose and the basic moves. Come on."

"What?" she asked confused.

"Come on- he put his hands on his hips- show me what you can do so far."

She shrugged and tried to copy one of the attack moves she saw Edmund perform today.

"No no no..you're breathing too hard and your moves must be much lighter. And you're holding the sword wrong"

He came around her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Keep them higher..."

She gasped as his hands traced from her shoulders, along her arms and to her wrists so he could move them on the sword hold. She could feel his whole strong body pressed up against her from behind. He was so close, she could feel Edmund's heart beating faster than usual and that feeling made the pace of her own heartbeat quicken.

"There...that's better." he said in a low almost-whisper and she shivered as she felt his breath on her neck.

Then suddenly they heard a small noise. They turned their heads ans saw that it was just a sword falling from it's place. But that was enough to send them back to their senses. Edmund quickly came around to face her and drew out his sword.

"Now, attack."

She did and he kept correcting her and showing her the basics. Edmund proved to be a great teacher- by the end of the third hour of her training, her fighting skills improved a lot. She lightly swung her sword around and blocked Edmund's attacks. He smiled, pleased with his work.

"You're a fast learner. I think, two more sessions and you'll be as good as Caspian."

She smirked. "But I want to be as good as you!"

"Than three more sessions."

They laughed and Edmund looked at the clock on the wall.

"Wow...it's already eight p.m.!"

"Yeah, we sure got carried away. We better get upstairs before someone starts looking for us."

He nodded and opened the door. Edelle waited for him to go first but instead he stood back and motioned for her to go. She smiled warmly, such a gentleman. They got to the upper deck and saw Lucy coming up to them.

"Where were you two? I've been looking all over!"

"Training. I was teaching Edelle to handle a sword. Relax, Lu, we're on a ship, it's not like we can run away anywhere far."

Lucy smiled. "Yeah, you're right. Quite silly of me to worry."

"How's Eustace?" Edelle asked, not really interested. "Curled up in a ball, sobbing in a pillow?"

Lucy and Edmund laughed.

"No, I tried to talk to him but he told me to leave him alone. And took out that diary of his"

"He's fine." Edmund concluded.

"There you are!"

They turned around and saw Caspian.

"Don't you two want to see your rooms?"

"We have our own rooms?" Edelle gasped.

"Sure. Come, I'll show you."

They followed him to a corridor with many doors. "These are where my crew members live" -he gestured to the first several doors as they continued walking all the way to the end of the hallway, where they saw the last four doors.

"This is Lucy's room." he motioned to the first door. "Next to her is your cousin. And these are yours. Sorry they're so far away, but that's the best I have."

"No no, they're fine. Thank you, Caspian." Edelle smiled, thankfully.

"You're welcome, milady. Now, you make yourselves comfortable. If we see something, we'll let you know."

"Thanks.."

"Thank you.."

Caspian left and Edmund, Edelle and Lucy went to their rooms. Edelle opened the door and looked around. The room was quite small. It had a bed, a writing desk, a chair and a wardrobe. There was also a small round window that gave some light and a beautiful view at the ocean. She looked out the window for several moments, she had never been to the sea before and it was an amazing experience for her. Looking at the ocean, Edelle thought about her little encounter with Edmund. She remembered the shivers that went through her body when his mouth was less than an inch away from the back of her neck. She remembered how she had that sudden urge to turn around and press her lips to his. There was something about him, something that made him so irresistible. Maybe it was his strength, not only physical, but mental as well. Or maybe it was that incredible masculinity and courage that burned in his eyes at all times. Well, whatever it was, she mustn't fall for it. Never. She mustn't think of him that way, she mustn't let him get to her that way. The way she wanted him to.

Then she heard some Drinian's loud voice

"Land!"

**Whatcha think?) You already know- review! *love you all***


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N. Wow, thank you sooo much for all your amazing reviews, my lovelies))) Here I am with a nice big new chapter. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 4. **

Edelle heard Drinian's voice and hurried to the upper deck. Edmund and Caspian were already there and she quickly went to them. From there she saw a rather big island that was still far away, but clearly visible.

"Are these the Lone Islands?" she asked both of them.

"Yes." Caspian passed her the telescope. "The last place the lords have been seen."

"I say, we prepare a landing party. –Edmund said and looked at the captain.- Drinian?"

Drinian shrugged and said with an apologetic look

"Forgive me, Your Majesty, but the commands start from King Caspian on this ship."

Edmund was silent for a moment, then muttered "Right." The look on his face could only be described as "Ouch" and Edelle couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him. After all, he was the High King! Oh well, at least she was a free person to choose who was her king. And she will show them all that it was not Caspian.

She put a comforting hand on Edmund's shoulder and looked at him, warmly. He smiled at her and put his hand on top of her's, as if saying "I'm fine, thank you."

There was still fifteen-twenty minutes until they could get the boats down and head ashore, so they went down and relaxed against the bark of the ship next to Lucy. She saw Edmund and Edelle approaching and smiled. "I was just talking to Reepicheep. Do you think we will keep sailing till the End of the World, which is…a tip off the edge…"

"Don't worry Lu, -Edmund said, drinking water- We're a long way from there."

That moment they saw the Eustace finally coming out from under the deck.

"I see you're still talking nonsense, the three of you."

Lucy smiled at him, ignoring his remark "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, no thanks to you." He crossed his arms. "Simply getting over the shock of things."

Edmund shot him a pathetic look, which could be described as "Quit moaning already…".

Eustace then looked at Edelle. "And how have you been?"

"Perfectly fine. I think this is a wonderful place with amazing people…and other creatures."- she sympathetically looked at Reepicheep, who was busy polishing his sword. "And you? Found your sea legs?"

"Never lost 'em! It's like I have an iron constitution. I have an acuteness position, due to my intelligence."

Edmund, who had been drinking water, choked on it.

Edelle and Lucy laughed, which didn't please Eustace.

"I'll have you know that the moment we get back to England, I'm contacting the British council and have you all arrested for kidnapping!" Eustace began to walk away and bumped into Caspian.

"Kidnapping, is it? That's funny; I thought we saved your life."

"You've had me against my will! I'm being kept in unhygienic conditions; it's like a zoo down there! "

"He's quite the complainer, isn't he?" came Reepicheep's small voice.

"He's just warming up." Edmund said in a careless tone.

Moments later Drinian called everyone on the boats to head ashore. The land was getting closer and closer and finally they reached it and tied the boat to a column. Everyone got off successfully, except Eustace, who was struggling with his balance. Reepicheep decided to have mercy and offered his little paw. "Here, let me help."

"I'm capable of doing it myself- Eustace grumbled and the next second, with an "OW!" stumbled on the stone stair steps.

Caspian looked at him, pitifully. "And you're certain he's related by blood?"

Everyone looked around and Lucy noticed something weird- it was so quiet, it seemed as if the Island hadno life on it. "Where is everybody?"

Caspian took out his sword "I don't know, but we're about to find out. Drinian, stay with your men here and secure the place. Edmund, Edelle and Lucy, come with me."

"Hey, what about me?" Eustace once again reminded of himself.

"Fine. You can come too. Drinian, if we don't get back by dawn, send the party."

The captain nodded and the five of them headed into the empty city. They walked through it and then something that looked like an old cathedral attracted their attention. They decided to check it. Eustace looked around and saw a small hole in one of the closed windows. He curiously looked in it and saw people in there. A family of five or six sitting on the ground, looking very frightened. He turned around.

"Yeah, looks like nobody's in. Do you think we could head back now?"

Edmund sighed. "Do you want to come here and…guard…something?"

"Oh, yes!- Eustace ran to them.- Good idea, cousin. Very, um, logical."

Edelle rolled her eyes and Caspian handed him a dagger.

"I've got it, I've got it. Don't worry!" Eustace turned around and got into the "guarding position", which looked quite funny.

They gave him one last weird look before stepping in the cathedral. It sure looked very old and dark. The only thing not covered in spider web was an open book in the middle. They all came close to it and looked at the pages. All it had was people's names, their gender and numbers. Most of them were crossed out.

Edelle ran her fingertips through the page. "Who are these people?"

Edmund looks confused too."Why have they been crossed out?"

"It looks like some sort of…fee." Lucy studied it more closely.

"Slave traders." Caspian breathed and the next moment they heard shouting and saw many pirate-looking men coming from nowhere, surrounding them. Caspian tried to fight back with his sword, and Edmund just punched and threw around the men, while Lucy and Edelle where doing the same. Then suddenly, they heard someone scream and everything stopped when the saw Eustace being led in by one of the men, with a knife at his throat.

"Unless you want to hear the squirt squeal like a girl again, I'd say you drop your weapons."

"Eustace!" Edmund hissed and the next thing they knew, they were seized.

"Those three- the man gestured to Edelle, Lucy and Eustace.- to the market. And those two, take them to the dungeon."

Caspian shouted, trying to get out from the grasp. "You idiots, I am your king!"

"You are going to pay for that!" Edmund snapped.

"Actually, someone else is going to pay. For all of you." said the man that apparently was in charge of all this and with that they were dragged away in different directions.

Caspian and Edmund were thrown into a cell .They had spent the entire night in here and Edmund couldn't think of anything, but Edelle and Lucy. Who knew what could happen to them? Caspian had been trying to break the door with his kicking for quite some time now. Suddenly they heard a voice from the dark corner of the cell.

"It's hopeless. You'll never get out."

Caspian turned his head and walked towards the corner. "Who's there?"

"Nobody, just a voice in my head."

Caspian came closer and the light fell upon the speaker. In was an old man with grey hair and beard. Caspian kneeled down to him and studied his face.

"Lord Berne?"

The man looked up at him and twitched. "Was once. But I'm no longer deserving of that title. Your face reminds me of a king I once loved well."

"That man was my father. "

The man looked up and his eyes had grown bigger.

"Caspian? Oh, forgive me, My Lord…" The man tried to get on his knees, but Caspian halted him. "No, please."

"Caspian! Listen!" Edmund said and everyone stood still. They heard noises and shouting from the outside and Edmund and Caspian climbed the wall to look out the small barred window. The sight was not pleasing. A man was chasing a carriage, which has been taking away a dozen of people. He was running after his wife that was being taken. One of the guards punched him in the face and he fell down. "Don't worry, I'll find you!" he cried, as his nine or ten year-old daughter and her aunt helped him on his feet. The carriage stopped near the sea. The people were taken out, put on a boat and pushed into the ocean.

"Where are they taking them?"

"Keep watching." The lord said in a sad voice.

They did and couldn't believe what they saw. Once the boat got merely half a kilometer from the shore, something started coming from the water. Something that looked like a green mist. It came out of nowhere, approached the boat with the scared people and…swallowed them.

On the other side of the field, the slave traders were busy doing their job. That very minute, the boss was trying to sell Lucy. There was a good crowd of men, who wanted a new servant.

"I give you sixty!"

"I give you eighty!"

"One hundred for the little lady!"

"One fifty!"

The boss smiled, satisfied. "Any more offers? No? One fifty it is then- SOLD!"

Someone came around Lucy and put a wooden sign that said "sold" on it around her neck and roughly pushed Lucy from the platform. Then, Edmund and Caspian jumped from their place as the guards opened their cell and handcuffed them.

"Move! Come on!" the guard pushed Edmund and Caspian out of the cell and led them down to the field. When they got there, the guards made them sit next to a shaking Eustace and wait for "their turn". Edmund stared in terror, as the boss shouted "NEXT ONE!" And the next one was dragged on the platform. The next one was Edelle. At the sight of her the men started whistling, clicking their tongues and shouting out loud their quite rude and even dirty ideas of what use can she be put for. Edmund clenched his fists as he heard them and almost jumped from his place, but Caspian stopped him.

"Not yet! Just wait for one minute!"

"Wait? Did you hear what they were saying about her? The bastards, I'll rip them apart!" Edmund snapped through clenched teeth.

"I did, and believe me, you will get your chance, just wait!"

Meanwhile Edelle was standing on the platform, also clenching her fists, boiling with anger. She had never heard such disgusting things being said about her! The boss smirked "As you can see, what we have here is a divine article; Look at her, ain't a blossom? Starting price- One hundred and eighty! Who will give more?"

"I give two hundred!"

"Two fifty for the dolly!"

"Three hundred for the girl!"

"I'll take her off your hands. –a strange tall man in a long cloak stepped forward.- I'll take them all off your hands!"

Edelle and Lucy smiled brightly as the cloak was thrown away and there was Reepicheep on Drinian's shoulder. The ten-fifteen men around him also threw their cloaks aside and the entire Dawn Treader's crew charged the pirate-looking men. Reepicheep ran to the four and freed them from their confines. Once it was done, they immediately joined the fight. Lucy couldn't really do much with her small dagger, so she just hit the men with anything she could reach: stones, metal, vases and silver trophies. Edelle proved to be an excellent fighter too. She punched someone in the face, so hard he jumped back a few feet and hit his head on a stone wall. The other man seized her from behind and turned her around. She struggled to get her hands free, but with no luck. The man smirked

"That's all you got, baby?"

She grinned "Not quite."

And with that she shot her knee up, hitting precisely the right place. The most painful place on a man's body. The man's eyes shot open so wide, it seemed they would pop out any minute, Edelle was momentarily forgotten as he clenched his knees and fell to the ground. The crew outnumbered the slave traders and soon the last one fell down as the rest simply ran away. The citizens were also freed from their confined and cells and soon, everyone were on the field, cheering for their liberators. They were walking to their boat to head back to the ship, with Caspian, Edmund, Edelle and Lucy in the first line.

"My lord!"

A man shouted from the crowd and approached them. It was the same man, which had been chasing the carriage not long ago.

"My wife was taken just this morning! Please take me with you! I've been on ships before, I'm a fine sailor!"

Caspian smiled and patted the man's shoulder. "Of course, you must."

They were almost boarding in the small boat, when Lord Berne came up to them with something in his hand. It was a sword, but a very old one-it was all covered in dried dirt and stalactite.

"My lord, this sword was given to me by the great Aslan."

Edmund looked at it, curiously. "This isn't a Narnian sword."

"It's from the Golden age. There are six more."

"Caspian took the sword. "Thank you, Lord Bernes. And we will find, your lost citizens."

They walked several feet away when Caspian stopped for a moment. "Hey Edmund!"

Edmund looked at him and Caspian passed him the sword. Edmund looked at it and imagined how gorgeous it will be, once he scrubbed it from the stalactite and dirt.

"Look who finally has a sword." Edelle grinned and Edmund returned the grin. They got on the boat and rowed back to the awaiting Dawn Treader.

**Well, how was it? Tell me, tell me, I wanna hear)) Stay tuned! *loves***


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N. Guess what? I went to the movies to see Narnia for the…dun dun dun dun…FIFTH time! Wow, I must be off my rockers…but I can't help it. I love seeing my man (Edmund) on the big screen. LOL. Thank you for being so amazing with the reviews, I love you guys, and here we have the next chapter! It's shorter than usual, but it had to be posted separately and I hope what's in it compensates the length!)**

**=Special A/N ONLY to those who put on alerts without reviewing. I get emails, people. I know exactly who you are. Guys…*sigh*…how hard it is to write 1-2 sentences about what you think? Gee…=**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 5.**

"Dear Diary, there has been an extraordinary turn of events. I've been abducted by my cousins and sent to drift in uncharted waters in some ridiculous-looking boat. So far, every person I've met in this strange place suffers from the most florid delusions. Chasing green mists and looking for lost Lords…I can only assume that this is a result of poor diet. All are just barking mad. Cousin Edmund is no exception: he spends every spare second rubbing that tin sword of his, like it's some magic lamp, the poor folk clearly needs a hobby. And Edelle…she spends almost every spare second with him or Lucy, but mostly him. And I thought it couldn't get any worse. I'm beginning to worry. Seriously, worry. Just the way they sometimes look at each other is enough to make me sick. Edmund clearly has affection for her. Of course, why wouldn't he? She's smart, fun, beautiful…I wanted to talk to her about all this for quite some time now, but I just can't get her attention- the moment I want to approach her, she immediately walks away and I obviously know better than to chase her all around the ship! But I will talk to her anyway, I have to find the right moment and then I…"

Eustace stopped writing as he heard his stomach growl louder than ever before. "Do they have a habit of eating here, I wonder…" he thought sarcastically and went off to find some food, or anything that looked like food.

Edelle was taking a stroll around the upper deck and smiling to the sailors that were passing by. Everyone here was so nice to her! They always asked her if she needed something or was there anything they could help with. The sunset today was especially beautiful. The sun was already halfway down in the ocean and the pink and orange sky contrasted breathtakingly with the blue waters. She saw Edmund who seemed to be one of the last people on the upper deck. Almost everyone had gone to their cabins to get some rest. He was sitting on a barrel near the bark, half-turned to the sea, polishing the sword. He had scrubbed it perfectly fine and now all it needed was some shine. She walked closer and sat on the barrel next to him.

"It's magnificent."

Edmund looked up and smiled "Tell me about it. Why aren't you in your room?"

"Well, I'm not really tired to go to sleep yet and the sunset is just so gorgeous, I couldn't resist. Besides, I should ask you the same thing."

"I wanted to get the sword done by today and don't worry about it anymore. And the sunset has it's part here too." He smiled

Edelle looked at the sword more closely. It looked really sharp and she wondered how heavy it was

"May I ?" she asked.

He raised his eyebrows and handed it to her. "Careful, it's heavy."

She took it and studied it for a moment. "Wow. It sure is. How do you fight with that? It's like, 5 kilo's or something?" she handed it back to him. He looked up and their eyes met. Should she tell him? They looked in each other's eyes for a moment and then she spoke

"You know, I think you're really strong, and very brave. And if I personally had to choose my king, I would choose you."

He smiled and blushed a bit at her compliments but then bitterly lowered his gaze, obviously remembering the small incident about "all orders coming from Caspian". She looked at him warmly and gently cupped his chin, making him look up t her.

"Edmund, I'll always choose you. Not Caspian. No matter what happens, I will always be on your side. Just wanted you to know that."

He looked in her kind, understanding and simply enchanting eyes and at that moment, it meant everything to him, knowing that Edelle would choose him to be her king. It showed that she really trusted him, and that meant a lot. Edmund was more than content with the fact that Edelle thought he was the better king. And everyone else? Well, their opinion didn't matter as much to him right now.

He gently took her hand and held it in his and that simple movement warmed them both up even more. "Thank you, Edelle. That means a lot to me. Really."

She smiled warmly at him and focused on the feeling of his warm hand holding hers so comfortingly. It was already almost dark and Edmund slowly stood up.

"It's getting late, you should get some rest."

"What? No, I'm not tired…" she said and yawned.

Edmund chuckled. "Aren't you now?"

"Okay, fine, maybe a bit. You're coming?"

"In a moment. Goodnight, beautiful." He said and tenderly kissed her hand before letting it go.

Edelle could swear she was melting. She literally felt like swooning right now. Not without some effort she managed to reply

"Goodnight, Edmund." And with that she walked away feeling a bit light-headed.

**Aww…even I love it) What about you? As always-link down there-click-review!)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N. OMG, guys, thank you so much for all your feedback! Special thanks to De BadBad Wolf and Alexandra the Dreamer for the most amazing reviews; you girls warm my heart!)) And of course, a huge thank you to ALL the other reviewers-you're really making my days with your kindness. And hereby, I present to you my favorite chapter so far. Can't wait to hear from you after you read this) Enjoy!**

**Special A/N. Now I would like you all to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my pal here-BeiiTaToKiiTa! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DARLIN'! *sings the song* Hope this chapter +virtual candy floss+ numerous hugs from me is a suitable gift! Love you, Bea*)**

**Chapter 6.**

Edelle was walking to her cabin. Even though her thoughts were a bit cloudy, she still heard the back of her mind shouting"Snap out of it! He is not an option! Nobody's an option to you! You are betrothed…" but she didn't want to listen. She was so deep in her thoughts she wasn't even aware of her surroundings. She couldn't hear or see anything that was going on around her. She was just…walking. Her cabin was sure a long way. Everything was so quiet, almost too quiet. Edelle stopped for a moment and insecurely looked around, for an unknown reason she suddenly felt her fingers turn cold. Something just didn't feel right.

"Oh, stop it, you little wimp!- she mentally scolded herself- You're just contradicting yourself!" What was she thinking? Of course it was quiet, everyone was probably asleep! Nothing odd or creepy about that! She slightly nodded at the thought and proceeded walking. Even though she continued to tell herself she was being ridiculous and there was absolutely nothing to be scared of, Edelle instinctly sped up her pace. Damnit, why was her cabin such a long way?

She was about forty meters from it, when suddenly she felt someone's cold palm on her face silencing her as she was roughly grabbed from behind. Her arms were instantly blocked from doing anything and then she felt her breath hitch and cold sweat begin to form on her forehead. Edelle felt sharp metal on her neck and heard someone's dangerously low and hissing whisper in her ear

"If you try to scream, I'll slit your damn throat. Got it?"

She was so terrified, she could barely move. Yet, she managed several shaking nods.

"Good. –someone hissed in her ear again.- Now you be a nice girl, and I will spare you."

By now, tears of terror were freely running down her cheeks. It probably was some sailor, who apparently wasn't sober-she felt a strong smell of alcohol, coming from him. It got even worse when she felt a rough hand squeeze her thigh and then run up to her waist. She let out a small squeal into the palm when it almost reached her breast and then…the hand was gone, gone as suddenly as it appeared. Both the hands were gone! She was free from the grasp and then she heard something hit the wall. She turned around and let out a surprised gasp as she saw Edmund fiercely clutching the collar of the drunken sailor's shirt with one hand and hitting him hard in the face with the other. The man fell on the floor, clutching his broken nose and brow, as Edmund made him get up again and punched him even harder in the gut. Edmund's eyes burned with such fury it almost scared even her. He hit him one last time and then grabbed the man by the back of his neck and hissed

"If I ever again see you within spitting distance to her, I'll be the last person you see before it's over. Cause' I swear, I'll rip you apart with my bare hands!" with that he threw him away and the man stumbled on his feet and ran away as fast as his damaged body would allow him.

Once he was out of sight, Edmund rushed to Edelle and embraced her tightly as she sobbed into his chest. "It's alright. I'm here, I'm with you. You're safe." He continued whispering words of comfort, while soothingly running his fingers through her hair. They stayed like that for a few minutes before her sobs became quieter and when he kissed her head, they almost stopped completely. He pulled back a bit to look at her, the pain of seeing her in tears clearly reflected on his face.

"Come on, let's get you to your cabin."

She nodded and he securely held her around her waist as they finally made it to her room. He sat her on her bed and sat next to her. A few tears were still trickling from her eyes and she leaned her head on Edmund's shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her. He swore, that son of a bitch would pay for that. At that moment he hated himself for letting her go alone. He should have escorted her! He looked down and felt a small bit better to see that she wasn't crying anymore, just silently clutching to him.

Edelle was going through so much right now. The feeling of almost being raped mixed with the feeling that Edmund saved her from it. Right now, she realized that nothing mattered anymore, the fact that she was betrothed to another, that both her and Eustace's parents were going to hate her guts, that she was probably going to be banished from her so-called family…none of that mattered. Edmund was all she wanted, all she needed. He was courageous, strong, and righteous, and now he had saved her from rape. Her heart belonged to him. Completely and unconditionally. She looked up and caught his gentle, but concerned gaze.

"Maybe you want some water or something? Just say the word, I'll get it."

She smiled warmly and raised her head from his shoulder, so that their faces were mere inches away from each other.

"Can I ask you for something?" she whispered.

"Of course, anything." he breathed, his heart pounding at such closeness with her.

"Kiss me, Edmund."

He felt his mouth go dry and his breath halt in his throat. Of course, he had thought of kissing her several times before, but he never dreamed that she would ever ask him for it. And after what had just happened less than twenty minutes ago, he knew he had to distract her from the thoughts of it. He had to help her, if not forget, than at least get over it more. He looked straight in her eyes and reached one hand behind her neck and slowly pulled her face past those several inches and gently, but tightly pressed his lips to hers.

Edelle had never felt something so electrifying as Edmund's lips on hers. Her breath was coming out in rapid pants and her heart was racing faster than she thought possible. She couldn't believe something so forbidden...tasted so heavenly. Besides the electrical jolts passing through all her body, she felt an unfamiliar pressure and warmth in her lower abdomen. She felt a sudden urge to express all the passion she had for him in that one kiss.

Edmund was loving this as much as she did. He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, pressing her body fully to his. She gasped as she felt Edmund lick her bottom lip and by doing so, she gave him perfect access. She surprised even herself as she moaned into the kiss and wrapped her arms eagerly around his neck. Edmund's tongue came into her welcoming mouth and explored it as she tried her best to follow his lead. Edelle was a bit taken aback, but certainly not disappointed by this incredibly passionate and possessive side of Edmund.

Things were getting more and more heated as Edmund's hands were now roaming over Edelle's body and her's were sneaking up his chest and then the collar of his shirt. Edmund breathed in deeply as he felt her fingers undo the first two buttons on it and wanted nothing more than to do the same with her zipper at the back of her red dress. But even through his passion-hazed mind, he knew they couldn't. Not now, at least. Not when she was so vulnerable. It took all he had to reach up to her wrist and stop what it was doing. He parted from her lips and looked at her.

They were still close enough to feel each-other's breath on their faces and they looked each other in the eyes, still burning with desire. Their lips were a bit swollen and slightly opened. Edelle looked puzzled at his hand that has stopped her's and then at him. He got her silent question and breathed tenderly, but firmly

"Edelle…no. Not now, it's all too soon-you're not ready."

She sighed, but had to admit he was right. It wasn't the right time. Yet. Then a thought came to her mind.  
"Edmund, I…I need to tell you something. It doesn't matter anymore, but I feel like you have to know. You see, me and Eustace…I mean, our parents…"

"I know." he cut her off with his totally unexpected answer.

She stared at him, wide eyed. "You do?"

"Yeah. Aunt Alberta told me everything a couple of weeks after we met. She sort of cornered me and told that she doesn't quite like the way we spend so much time together and that I better not do anything to get in the way."

He was silent for a moment, and then spoke again

"But I just can't help it. I can't keep myself away from you. Not anymore."

Edelle could hardly believe what he had just said. She stared at him, full of emotion and breathing hard.

"I… I feel the same way. I can't be without you. I tried to force myself to stay away from you, but I can't. I, I love you, Edmund and I need to be with you. Only you."

He gazed at her in wonder and suddenly grabbed her face and kissed her full and hard on the lips.

"I love you too, Edelle. More than you could know. I want to be with you always."

She smiled widely, and felt a single tear of happiness trickle down her cheek as she clung to him as tightly as she could and he eagerly returned her embrace.

"Edmund, I don't think I can sleep alone tonight, can you…stay with me?"

He smiled lovingly "Of course, whatever you wish."

They both sighed happily as he laid them both down on her bed and wrapped his arms securely around her. She laid her head on his chest and a few moments later fell asleep to the warmth of his body and the lullaby of his beating heart.

**Wow…I've done it. My most important chapter so far. I hope you loved it as much as I did! I don't need to ask you to review- you, guys, are terrific at that even without my desperate pleads.) Can't wait to hear from you! *loves***


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N. Again, thank you so much, girls for all your kind and truly fabulous words.) *love you all* Hope you like this chapter, enjoy!**

**Chapter 7. **

The next morning Edelle slowly opened her eyes and smiled dreamily- Edmund's arms were still around her as he was still sleeping. She sighed peacefully and tilted her head to look at him; he was so cute when asleep. Her eyes scanned his face; he was indeed the most handsome man she's ever seen. Everything about him seemed so perfect to her: his dark hair, his nose, his lips, his brown eyes she loved gazing in…

"It's not nice to stare like that."

She momentarily forgot her thoughts as her head shot up and she found that his eyes were still closed, but he was grinning slightly. In a moment his eyes slowly opened and focused in her, his grin turning into a playful smirk. "Haven't we been through this already?"

Edelle smiled lovingly at him "Yeah, yeah, but I can't help it. You were just so cute. And by the way, - she tried to make a serious face- I'm actually supposed to be offended that I always look at you when I get the chance, and you don't."

Edmund's smirk grew naughtier "Just because you don't catch me looking, doesn't mean I don't."

Her eyes lit up "So you do?"

He laughed "Of course, you silly, beautiful thing! How can I not? I'm just a bit more careful, than you are."

She giggled happily and leaned down, kissing him full on the mouth. He responded eagerly and sat them up, so she was half-sitting on his lap, while kissing her passionately. Edelle clutched his shoulders and deepened the kiss even further. They never wanted to stop, but the need of air became almost unbearable and they parted, breathing heavily.

They smiled at each other mischievously and Edelle got up from the bed.

"We better go upstairs, others are gonna miss us."

Edmund nodded and got up too. "Yeah, let's go. The sun's bright- it's probably very late morning already." He reached for the doorknob, when Edelle halted him.

"Hey…we probably shouldn't show off that we're…well…-she gestured to him and her- I'm not worried about everyone, I know Lucy's going to be happy for us, everyone else too, but Eustace…I don't think he should know yet. -she sighed- We will have to tell him anyway, but not now. He's going through enough misery already…"

Edmund understood and sighed "I know. You're right, not now…"- he eyed her up and down for a moment- "Though it will be quite hard to keep away from you."

She smiled. "You don't have to strictly keep away from me, we just have to try and not be too obvious. Especially around…him."

He nodded and gave her one last peck on the lips for now, and they exited the cabin and headed upstairs. Luckily for them, everyone was up already, and no one saw them while they walked. Or it would be quite difficult and awkward to explain why they are walking together at the same time from the same cabin! They made it to the upper deck and Edmund remembered something extremely important and turned to Edelle

"Why don't you go and talk to Lucy, I have something I need to discuss with Caspian, right now."

"Sure, go." She said lightly and went to Lucy as he walked away to see Caspian. He never forgot about what happened yesterday. And now, he had to tell Caspian that Edelle was attacked by one of his sailors. That damn bastard was definitely going to pay for what he did, or tried to do. And this time, he would pay officially.

…20 minutes after…..

"What?" Caspian couldn't believe his ears. "But that's not possible- all of my sailors are good men…"

Edmund just looked at him with a stiff expression. "Well, I guess you missed one then. Cause' I didn't see much good in him."

Caspian slowly shook his head in shock and disappointment "Unbelievable…so who was it? Do you remember him?"

"Can't you guess? I bet there are not much sailors with broken faces on your ship."

Caspian closed his eyes for a moment, in sad realization "Drake. One of my finest men. This morning I asked him what happened to him and he said he tripped on the stairs…so it was you." –he concluded, rather than asked.

For a second Edmund thought that Caspian was not pleased that he damaged his sailor and furrowed his eyebrows "Yes. It was me. What did you expect me to do- kindly ask him to stop what he's doing and leave the place or what?"

Caspian shook his head fast "No, no, Edmund. What you did was absolutely right. He deserved it…and much more."

"So what are we gonna do about him?"

Caspian thought about it for a moment "He will be sent to prison once we get back home. And for now…I have this small basement, I think we can put him there." he looked at Edmund again and saw it in his eyes just how much he wanted to make that man regret what he did. "Ed, I'm guessing you probably want to get some alone time with him."

Edmund still had his stiff expression, but at the mention of his exact yearning, his gaze shot up "Absolutely. Thank you, Caspian. I'd love to look in his eyes as soon as possible."

"Done."

Caspian ordered to seize sailor Drake and throw him into the basement, he told Edmund that he could do whatever he wished, but only as long as the man stays alive and not too damaged. Edmund gave his word to control himself and went down to the improvised dungeon and, with the sense of a sweet revenge for his Edelle, entered the room. Once the sailor saw who his visitor was, he visibly tensed up and his eyes gave away that he was afraid of the High King. He remembered how he almost punched his guts out; he knew he was extremely strong for his age and complexion. The sailor was slightly shaking, but did his best to brace himself for whatever was coming.

For several minutes Edmund just looked at him. His look was not of pure fury like last night, it was like he was trying to look into his soul. His eyes were burning a hole in the man, and after a moment Edmund started walking closer. He slowly approached the man and kneeled to his level. He could see the man was scared of him and that thought cooled him down a bit. Finally he decided to try and speak to him

"Why did you do it?"

Drake just stared at Edmund not sure if it was safe for him to reply.

"Answer me!" Edmund ordered in a louder tone which made the man back up against the wall a bit.

"I d-didn't she was y-yours…" he stuttered.

"Well she is!" Edmund shouted and slammed his fist in the wall, mere centimeters to the left from the man's stomach. He breathed in and out deeply, calming himself down and looked at Drake again.

"What made you think you had the right to go after her? What made you think you could touch her?"

The man opened his mouth several times before he managed to respond

"I-I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I was drunk, I don't know what came over me, but I haven't seen a woman in months and she was just so beautiful and young…I'm really sorry, I wish I could take it back…"

Edmund slowly shook his head. "You're not sorry because you regret what you've done. You're sorry because you got caught."

The man averted his gaze.

"Yeah…that's what I thought." Edmund said bitterly and went to the door. Just when he reached the doorknob he turned around. "By the way, you won't see a woman in another several years. At first I wanted them to sterilize you…"

At that the man's eyes grew big and terrified.

"… but then I thought of a better idea. Since you like women so much, I think having _it_ and not getting a chance to use it will be a much more severe torture for you." He took one last disgusted look at the man and exited the cell, slamming the door behind him.

Later that day, Edelle was leaning against the bark next to Lucy, squinting from the sun.

"So, Lucy, how did you sleep?" she asked absentmindedly.

"Oh, um…not too bad."

Edelle looked at her questioningly "What? Did you get seasick or something?"

Lucy shook her head. "No, I don't get seasick. It's just Eustace. Our cabins are too close together, the wall is too thin, and he snores."

"Ow…sorry, Lu." She felt bad for her, there was still a long way, which meant many more nights.

"Yeah well, it was pretty bad but…it wasn't horrible."

Edelle cocked an eyebrow with a "yeah, right" look on her face. She had slept over at their house before a couple of times, so she knew what it's like.

Lucy looked at her and sighed "Okay, it was horrible! He sounds like Uncle Harold after a party!"

Edelle laughed.

"That's not funny!" she faked an offended voice, but was laughing too.

"Actually, it is." She chuckled. "Well, you could always ask Edmund how to cope with that. Imagine: he had been sleeping in the same room with him for months!"

"Whoah, you're right, I almost forgot about that…"

"Edelle!"

They turned around and saw Eustace approaching.

"Speak of the devil…" Edelle muttered and Lucy chuckled.

Luckily, Eustace didn't hear that and came to Edelle. "I need to speak with you, privately, if you don't mind."

"Yeah, sure." She said, slightly confused. What could he possibly want to talk about?

Lucy smiled "I'll just go talk to Reepicheep." and walked away, leaving them alone.

"Okay," Edelle looked at Eustace. "I'm all ears. What's on your mind?"

Eustace glanced around at all the busily moving sailors around them. "It's kind of noisy, here, let's go downstairs. He carefully took her by her elbow and led her downstairs. Once they reached the corridor, he let her go and faced her.

"It's getting impossible to talk to you; someone is always in the way."

She rolled her eyes. "So, there, we're alone. Spill it!"

"Fine. Edelle, you do remember the agreement our parents made, don't you?"

She glared at him "How could I forget?"

He nodded his head. "So I expect you to understand that someday you are to become my wife…"

"What's your point, Eustace?" she cut him off, not wanting to be reminded of that again.

"My point is, I don't think I like the way you and Edmund look at each other when you talk or do something together. You mustn't have any affection for him, that's just how betrothal works- you don't develop affection for anyone but your husband."

"Listen, Eustace Clarince Scrubb."- she placed her hands on her hips, warningly, looking at him with calm but angry eyes- "You are so certain that I will marry you someday, and you will become my husband, and order me around all the time. But until then, you have no right to tell me what to do and until then, my relationship with Edmund is no business of yours! Good day!" she turned around.

"Edelle!"

"I said, good day!" she snapped and stormed back to the upper deck.

Eustace lowered his eyes. "Blast it! I knew this conversation wouldn't end good." he sighed deeply and bitterly shook his head. "Why don't you understand…" he stood there for a moment, looking slightly defeated, and then went to his cabin.

Edelle got to the upper deck and went to the bark of the ship. How dare he? He was not her fiancée yet, he was not even her boyfriend! And he never will be…She sighed confidently. He could think he will, for now, but he never will be. As soon as they get back home, she will stand up to her and his parents and refuse the entire thing.

"There you are!" Edelle jerked her head and relaxed as she saw Edmund next to her. "Where were you?"

"Eustace alert. "I don't think I like the way you look at each other…"- she mimicked his voice, but they didn't laugh.

Edmund's expression stiffened. "He's getting suspicious…he'll figure it out sooner than he should."

She sighed. "I know. And you know what? I know it's pretty odd, but I think he's also getting…jealous."

Edmund raised his eyebrows, surprised. "Jealous?- he thought for a moment. – So that means, he likes you."

"Yeah, something like that. Urgh, this makes it even more difficult. I mean, he's a snob and everything but…he's still sort of a friend and I don't like hurting people, no matter who they are. And he just keeps talking about that stupid affair our parents made. " she lowered her eyes, pitifully.

He looked at her, warmly and wrapped one arm around her waist. "Don't worry, I'm not giving you to anyone." He cupped her chin and made her look at him. "Ever."

Edelle got lost in his chocolate-brown eyes and her heart skipped a beat at his promise. She felt so much emotion for him at moments like that. She smiled lovingly. "Eustace is in his cabin."

Edmund grinned "Good." and he pressed his lips to her's gently, but firmly, not caring if anyone saw them.

***dreamy sigh* Oh, can't you just feel the love radiating from those two? I know I can…Hope to hear from you soon!)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N. Another chapter? So soon? Wow, I feel ****like I'm spoiling you girls…but that's okay, I love you, so I can spoil you sometimes-Enjoy)**

**Chapter 8.**

"Okay, what did I just see?"

Edmund and Edelle quickly broke the kiss and turned their heads to the voice. Lucy walked to them and looked with wide eyes from her to him and from him to her again many times.

Edelle blushed a bit, but Edmund merely grinned. Lucy opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to speak, before she could utter "Well? Did I miss something?"

Edmund chuckled. "You didn't miss much, Lu. We're only together since yesterday." he said in such an every-day tone, as if they were talking about the weather.

Lucy gaped. She knew about the betrothal, and since she was raised as a proper lady, to her such things weren't something to be taken so lightly. To her, what Edelle and her brother were doing seemed almost criminal. She looked at Edelle, shocked. "Edelle? Is that true?"

Edelle shrugged slightly under her firm gaze but then replied confidently "Yes, it is true. Edmund and I are together." She looked at him and caught his adoring gaze.

Lucy froze for a minute, trying to rearrange her mind, according to this. She was suspecting that something might be going on between Edmund and Edelle, even though they didn't admit it. She had seen the way they shyly caught each other's glances from time to time. And by the way their eyes connected now, she could tell they were deeply in love. They had this special aura around them, the one that makes you want to swoon at them, wishing that someday you will have the same thing they do. She herself got unwillingly involved in that aura and had to admit that she was actually happy for them. Even though it was completely out of bound. Now that she thought of it that way, she found that it was just so unbelievably romantic! Forbidden love…just like Romeo and Juliet. Except, she sure hoped it wouldn't end the same way. She sighed and smiled warmly.

"You know you're going against everyone, don't you?"

Edelle smiled "Well, I wouldn't say everyone…just my parents and Eustace's and…"

"And the entire England in rules of all that's proper!" Lucy finished for her.

Edmund and Edelle just lowered their eyes, of course, they knew that. But they also knew that what they had was real and much more serious and valuable than any stupid rule, and damn propriety!

Lucy shook her head and smiled. "Well, if that's what you choose and if you really love each other..as I can see you do, then I'm happy for you. Really, Edelle, I'm already thinking of you as a sister."

Edelle smiled and hugged Lucy. "Thank you so much. I knew you'd understand."

Lucy hugged her back "I do, but what about…him?" she asked, obviously meaning Eustace.

Edelle sighed "I don't know yet. He is so determined to go along with the betrothal…He tried to talk to me today and he made it quite clear that he's jealous of Edmund and he doesn't even know we're already together. I don't know how he's gonna take it."

"Well, he'll have to." Edmund instinctly moved several inches closer to her. "Somehow, anyway."

Edelle grinned at his possessiveness and Lucy smiled warmly to both of them.

"Land Ahoy!"

The three heard the sailors calling and hurried to Caspian. They approached him and Drinian; he was looking in his telescope, investigating what might await them.

"Looks inhabited, but if the Lords followed the mist east, they would have stopped here.

"Could be a trap" Drinian suspected in his usual serious tone.

"Or it could hold some answers." Edmund said. "Caspian?" he looked at him, waiting. Edelle and Lucy turned to him too.

Caspian folded his telescope "We'll spend the night on shore. Scow the island in the morning."

"Aye, Your Majesty." Drinian replied and started preparing the ship for the night stay.

Not much time passed and soon they have arrived. The crew took all the sleeping stuff: blankets, pillows… and left the ship. When their feet could feel the land beneath, it was already dark, so not much could be seen, but everyone had found a spot to sleep and tried to make themselves comfortable. Even Eustace, although with his usual grumbling, had found satisfactory comfort next to some rock. Edmund and Edelle laid their blankets close to each other, but not dangerously-suspiciously close. Somehow spending all day on the ship, with all the rocking and slight tossing was quite tiring and everyone fell asleep very quickly. The night was warm and the air was fresh, Edelle rarely had dreams before, but tonight she was smiling in her sleep, which could only mean one thing-a pleasant dream. And indeed it was, a pleasant and a rather naughty one…

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A small but cozy room, a bed with red and white sheets, slightest light from the night lamp, her and Edmund. They were sitting on the side of the bed, lovingly and passionately gazing in each other's eyes. They were so close, they could feel each other's breath on their faces. And then the distance between them was no more. Edmund's lips moved ever so sensually against her's and his fingertips were slowly moving up her arms to her exposed shoulders and to the straps of her red nightgown. She gasped at the feeling of the thin silk slipping down to her waist, exposing her upper body to him. His shirt was already gone and she took her time, gazing in awe at his perfectly sculpted and toned figure. She ran her fingers over his strong chest and down his lower stomach to that hardly noticeable trail of dark hair, which disappeared into his pants. She saw Edmund suck in some air as her fingers came dangerously close to his most sensitive area and suddenly she felt him pushing her down on the bed, slowly getting on top of her…

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"Edelle, wake up! Come on!"

She felt someone slightly shaking her shoulder and opened her eyes to see Edmund trying to wake her. It was early dawn, seriously, what was the rush?

"What? What is it?" she asked, sleepily, but now concerned at the urgency on his face.

"Lucy's missing! Everybody up!" he shouted and Edelle quickly sprang to her feet, looking around.

"LUCY? LUCY!" she called her, but no reply came. They hurriedly gathered up their things and rushed into the island, looking for the missing queen. They soon came to some garden-like field, with all the green bushes and neatly-cut trees. They began to search the place carefully, when Edmund rushed forward and picked something up.

"Lucy's dagger!"

Edelle ran to him and looked at the find "She must be somewhere close." Suddenly she heard something pierce the ground right behind her and turned around to see a huge spear at her feet. She felt Edmund pulling her away when more spears surrounded them and the others, coming from nowhere. Then they heard a deep growling voice from mid-air.

"Stop right there!"

They hastily looked round, trying to figure out the source of the voice, when their swords were roughly snatched from their hands and something hit Edelle in the stomach, not very painful, but certainly not softly. Edmund was the second to follow, he felt someone, or something hit him in the jaw, also not too bad, but the worst part was-their opponents obviously were invisible and they felt like blind mice! All they could do was just randomly hit the air around them, trying to shield themselves, but to no avail. They were losing to the invisibles.

"What sort of creatures are you?" Caspian asked, already being on the ground.

"Big ones. With the head of a tiger and the body of a…"

"Different tiger!" another voice finished.

"You don't want to mess with us!" came another voice. Whoever the creatures were, there seemed to be no less than five of them.

"Or what?" Edmund retorted, in a challenging tone. The creatures seemed to have seized their attacks, so everyone was able to pick up their swords.

"Or I'll claw you to death!" came a voice from the mid-air. Or not…

Edelle's eyes had grown big as the sources of the voices were slowly revealed. The invisible life-threatening beasts were now visible. But instead of the very large tiger-headed monsters they saw very bizarre-looking…gnomes? Trolls? It was hard to tell who they were, but their weirdest factor was that each creature only had one foot, even though a big one. They were all paired, one gnome holding up the other, so they appeared taller. Most of them had messy hair and big noses. But it seemed, that they weren't aware of their visibility, as they continued threatening

"I'll run my tuft right through you!"

"Yeah..."

"I'll mash you with my teeth!"

"I'll bite you with my fangs…arrrrg!"

Edmund raised his eyebrows sarcastically "You mean, squash us with your fat bellies?"

"Yeah…what?" the gnomes looked at each other. "Fat bellies?"

Caspian half-smiled "Tickle us with your toes?"

Edelle chuckled "Make us laugh till we die?"

The creatures lost their balance from confusion and stumbled on the ground. Edmund drew out his sword and walked to one of them. "What have you done with my sister, you little pipsqueak?" he warningly placed the tip of it to the gnome's throat.

The gnome stuttered shakingly "N-now, calm down…"

"Where is she?" he demanded.

"Come on, tell him!" other gnomes encouraged, frightened.

"Go on, chief!"

"Tell him!"

The "chief" looked up at Edmund "In the Mansion."

"What mansion?" he looked around the empty field. Edelle and Caspian also turned their heads looking for any sign of a mansion. At first they could spot none, but then, an enormous house slowly appeared before their eyes, just like a mirage in the desert.

"Oh, that mansion…" Edmund said, surprised.

Then they heard an all-too familiar complaining voice from behind "You know, I'm really getting tired of you all leaving me behind…" Eustace froze in his place as he saw the strange one-footed creatures. "This place is getting weirder and weirder!"

They ignored his remark, as Edmund, Edelle and Caspian saw Lucy approaching them, accompanied by an old man in a long gown and a short grey beard.

"Lucy!" Edmund relaxed and looked questioningly at the old man. The man bowed formally. "Your Majesty."

"Caspian, Edmund and Edelle, -Lucy looked at them.- This is Coriakin. It's his island."

"That's what he thinks!" the creatures reminded of themselves. "You have rammed us, magician!"

Coriakin calmly walked to them "I have not rammed you; I made you invisible for your own protection."

As he got closer, the creatures began securely hopping away. "Protection? That's oppressive!"

"Oppressor!"

"I have not oppressed you…" he kept his calm tone and slow walking pace.

"But you could have, if you wanted to!"

"Be gone!" the magician released some kind of white powder on them and the creatures quickly hopped away, scared of the unknown substance.

"What was that?" Lucy questioned about it.

Coriakin half turned and replied quietly "Lewd. But don't tell them."

Eustace looked at the creatures for the last time "What were those things?"

"Dufflepuds."

Eustace rolled his eyes "Right, of course, silly me."

Coriakin made an inviting gesture and the five followed him into the Mansion.

**Don't forget to review, my lovelies)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N. Girls, you would not believe what happened to me yesterday…A new guy came to my class at school, I looked at him and OMG, he is the spitting image of Edmund! I just stared at him for minutes, it's just unbelievable, it's like they're brothers! But it didn't end there…we have double desks in our school and he sat right next to me! We met and talked after class and I felt like I was gonna faint-he even talks just like him! Wow…okay, enough of my rambling, on with the story!)**

**Chapter 10.**

As they walked through the mansion corridor Lucy asked the magician

"What did you mean when you said that you made them invisible for their own good?"

"It seems the easiest way to protect them from the evil."

"You mean the mist?" Edmund guessed, as it was the only evil they knew about now.

"I mean what lies behind the mist" They made it to a big room with numerous books and Coriakin stood back to let them all in first. He then followed them. He took from one of the bookshelves something that looked like a huge map and with a single hand unrolled it on the floor. It was indeed a big map of the ocean and its islands but it also looked like a masterpiece-so beautifully it was painted and the pictures even seemed to stand out and appear live. Even Eustace couldn't help it

"It's quite beautiful!" he said looking at the map, but momentarily corrected himself when he saw Edmund, Edelle and Lucy grinning at him "I mean for a make-believe map of a make-believe world!"

"There is the source of your troubles" Coriakin pointed to an island in the very far away east. "Dark Island, the place where evil lurks. It can take any form. It can make your darkest dreams come true."

Edmund and Edelle listened with furrowed eyebrows and great concern, taking everything in as Coriakin continued

"It seeks to corrupt all goodness, to steal the light from this world."

Lucy stood out "How do we stop it?"

"You must break it's spell."- he turned and pointed to Edmund's sword. "That sword you carry,

There are six others."

Edmund looked at him "Have you seen them?"

"Yes."

Caspian lifted his eyes from the map "The six lords? They passed through here…Where were they headed?"

"Where I sent them." Coriakin stood on the map "To break the spell you must follow the blue star to Ramandu's Island. There the seven swords must be laid at Aslan's table. Only then can the true magical power be released. But beware…" Coriakin looked at them all – "You are all about to be tested."

"Tested?" Edelle questioned. Coriakin turned to her "Until you lay down the seventh sword, evil has the upper hand. It will do everything in its power to tempt you." he came closer to Lucy, who has lowered her gaze "Be strong. Do not fall to temptation. To defeat the darkness out there, you must defeat the darkness inside yourself." The magician eyed everyone in the room, every stiff expression and dismissed the five.

Edelle, Edmund, Lucy, and Caspian- they were all silent as they walked back to the ship. Each one was deep inside their own thoughts. It seemed as if they tried to convince themselves that they had no dark wishes, but something kept clawing at the back of their minds, making them feel insecure at what could possibly be hidden deep down in their souls, something they didn't even realize was there.

Them and the crew boarded the ship and took off; heading east and ready to meet whatever awaited them.

Later that day Edelle was sitting on a barrel near the bark of the ship, looking at the waters. Edmund was downstairs, in Caspian's cabin. Caspian, Drinian and he were looking at different maps and investigating the shortest way to Ramandu's Island and Lucy was in her room, reading a book. But Edelle didn't feel lonely, right now it was a good thing that she could just sit and ponder with her thoughts…

"Um…Edelle?" came an unsure voice from behind her. She turned her head and growled quietly as she saw Eustace standing there. "How may I be of service?" she asked calmly and formally, still not being able to completely conceal the anger from their last conversation, but she knew she had to try her best to do so.

Eustace's expression was quite nervous, something very rear for him. He gestured to a barrel nest to her

"May I sit?"

She glanced at the barrel "Be my guest." She averted her gaze from him back to the ocean.

He sat down and kept silent for a moment, not sure how to begin speaking. He hardly ever had a problem picking out the right words, but with her it was different. And the way she was not even looking at him made it even more difficult. After several minutes he finally uttered

"Edelle, I'm sorry about what I said earlier...that didn't come out right, I didn't mean for it to sound like an order."

She slightly raised her eyebrows. As far as she knew him, Eustace didn't like to apologize for anything, so his words and the sincere, unsure tone they were spoken in surprised her a great deal.

She tilted her head and looked at him "Um, it's okay…if you really are sorry, than I forgive you."

Eustace smiled "Thank you."

The briefest smile, but even that made him look more…human. With his usual stiff and, if not angry, then blank and cold expression, Edelle never found him the least bit attractive. To her he just looked average. And next to Edmund, even below average. But when he smiled right now, giving her a small glimpse of the other side of him, she was quite shocked to discover that behind that mask of his he was actually kind of cute. With his fair hair and light blue eyes and the half-smile, Edelle felt like she was looking at a different boy.

"Edelle, there's something else I wanted to tell you…I wanted to say it last time, but messed up the whole conversation from the beginning."

She looked at him, waiting "Yeah?"

He shrugged, and began in a slightly shaking voice. "Well..the reason I said what I said earlier, about you and Edmund was because…because even though I hardly show it..and by the way I act and speak it's probably impossible to believe it but, you're kind of my only friend, or at least I hope you are. When there was just me and you, before my cousins came, you where the only one to speak to me and spend time with me. I know you had no choice, but to me you became the only bright thing I had in my life. And when they came, you started speaking to me less and less, you were spending most of your time with them and especially with Edmund…"

As he spoke Edelle listened to him in complete shock. She never thought she meant so much to him, she never thought he even cared if she spent time with the Pevensies. But it appeared he did.

Eustace took a breath and continued "And since we got here, you seem to grow closer to him every day and I...I realized I really like you a lot, I don't want to lose you more than I already have."

Edelle blinked several times and stared at him for a moment. So it is true…he likes her. She lowered her eyes, apologetically.

"You don't have to say anything now, I just wanted you to know how I really feel, I don't want you to think that I just want to order you around." With that he got up and walked away, leaving Edelle alone to her thoughts.

Edelle suddenly felt so sorry for him. He told her she was the only pleasant thing he had, he told her he liked her and she now felt even more guilty, knowing that she had to hurt him. He said he didn't want to lose her completely, but he already had. Eustace thought he still had a chance for her to like him back, but he didn't. Edelle knew how much it must have cost him, coming up to her like that and exposing his soul to her, and that made the guilt even worse. She knew, even though he built up the courage in himself and confessed to her, he still was Eustace. If she told him about her and Edmund, he wouldn't understand, he would just hate her forever…

"Hey, whatcha doing?"

She snapped from her thoughts and shot her head up to see Lucy sit down on the barrel Eustace had just left.

"Hi..um, nothing"

Lucy looked at her, concerned at her confused and a bit anxious expression. "Edelle, what's wrong?"

She looked up at Lucy "I talked to Eustace just now…he said he likes me."

Lucy was taken aback, but not as much as Edelle "Well, have you told him about you an Edmund?"

Edelle slowly shook her head "No, I couldn't bring myself to. And even if I had, he wouldn't understand."

Lucy thought about it "Well, you could try to explain and maybe, just maybe he would eventually understand."

"Yeah, and maybe, just maybe that's insane. I mean, it's Eustace we're talking about here."

Lucy sighed "You're right. He's just gonna hate you for the rest of your life."

Edelle cocked and eyebrow "Ya think?"

They were silent for a moment, then Edelle stood up

"I'm going to my room, do you have any book to read?"

"Yeah, sure you can take one from my cabin."

"Thanks." Edelle half-smiled and went downstairs. She didn't really want to read, she felt so perplexed, so torn, she needed someone to soothe her, someone to make her feel peaceful and cozy again. She needed someone to pull her into a comforting embrace and hold her tight. And Edelle knew only one person who could give her that.

**Hope you liked it. Don't ignore that little link below)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N. Hi everybody! I just wanted to once again thank my awesome reviewers who had been with me all along from the beginning: Alexandra the Dreamer, DeBadBad Wolf, RedRoses224, saraxrawrr, and my Narnian BFF-BeiiTaToKiiTa. Also I want you to give the warmest hug of welcome to my recent reviewers, who caught up on my story a bit later: Storyseeker, doublelily, icequeen8181, Edward Lover 1817, and Merry Nightmare. THANK YOU, GIRLS, YOU ROCK! *hands out candyfloss* Well, anyway, hope you like this chapter as much as I do. On we go…**

**Chapter 10.**

Edelle walked swiftly through the corridors; she was determined to find Edmund. She needed to hear his velvet voice, to look into his mesmerizing, blazing brown eyes, to feel his strong arms around her…she needed _him_. She sped up her walking pace, went around the corner and suddenly bumped into something.

"Wow, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" she looked up and smiled broadly at the chuckling Edmund.

"And where are you going in such a hurry?" he smiled and slid his hands around her waist.

Edelle momentarily felt comfort from his contact "I was just looking for you."

Edmund grinned "Good answer." and lowered his head to kiss her on the lips. The kiss was gentle but firm, as they usually liked it, and even though they kissed several times before, they still felt that electrical jolt passing through their bodies, like for the first time. They parted and gazed lovingly in each others' eyes.

"So is there any particular reason you were looking for me?"

Edelle wanted to tell him about her talk with Eustace, but some tingling feeling inside her decided to save it for later. Just one look at Edmund made her slip out of her worries and she didn't want to bring them back just yet, there was still a lot of time for that. She lightly shook her head

"No, don't worry, nothing serious. I just thought…maybe we could go to Caspian's training room and you could teach me some fighting tips or something."

Edmund raised his eyebrows. Judging by the way she acted with the slave traders and the invisible dufflepuds, she was a pretty decent fighter and he didn't quite understand why she wanted extra lessons. But, oh well, if she still wanted him to teach her- by all means, he would gladly assist.

"Sure, whatever my lady wishes." He grinned and they walked to the training room.

The door opened and Edmund discreetly stood back to let her in first. Edelle smiled- such a simple gesture, but at the same time, such an incredibly sweet thing. He was behaving like a true king around her and she was loving it.

He entered the room right behind her and they walked to the centre. Edmund took out his sword and Edelle picked up the one she used last time and waited for his attack, smirking slightly

"Well, come on. Give me your best shot."

Edmund laughed "I wouldn't go for my best just yet, middle's good enough for now."

Edelle grunted "Fine, middle will do. But just this once."

Edmund chuckled and attacked. Sounds of clashing metal instantly filled the air. Edmund charged and Edelle shielded, Edelle striked and Edmund dodged. The blades crossed and danced together as nimbly as their holders. Edmund aimed for her legs in attempt to knock her down, but Edelle jumped precisely in the right moment and the blade went right under her feet. The swords crossed again, and again from a different angle until, finally Edelle's sword was sent flying put of her hands and landed a good distance from them. It happened faster than she expected; one second the sword is there, and the next- it's suddenly gone! She glanced at her empty hand and shot Edmund a frustrated gaze. He smirked

"And you asked for my best shot."

"_And you asked for my best shot…" _she mimicked him with a made face.

He laughed and after a minute she smiled too. Edmund sheathed his sword in its confines, walked over to Edelle and placed his hands on her upper arms. "Don't worry about that, you know I had years of practice. In fact, you're doing way better than I was when I first started training."

Edelle looked up at him and half-smiled "Really?"

"Yeah, really. My fighting instructors used to tell me, they never got so worn out with any of their other trainees. I was a disaster the first days."

She giggled and hugged him, crossing her hands around his neck as he wrapped his round her waist. They kept silent for moments, holding each other. Edmund was delighted at how fragile she appeared in his arms and Edelle loved how perfectly she seemed to fit against his strong body, it was as if they were made for each other. Like matching puzzle pieces. The room was quiet until suddenly Edelle lifted her head up and looked around

"Did you hear that?"

Edmund listened and tried to make out any sound at all, but could hear nothing.

"No, I can't hear anything, what is it?"

She parted from him "Just listen."

They stood still, and even halted their breath for a second and then Edmund began hearing some strange echo. After another minute it became louder and louder and Edmund and Edelle could clearly make out a female voice. The voice was singing a slow and a beautiful melody without words, and Edelle smiled brightly

"A mermaid! Lucy told me they liked to sing."

Edmund smiled too. He remembered his old days in Narnia and how he used to sit by the sea with his sisters and listen to mermaid's songs. He looked at Edelle and got an idea. He coughed tactfully and Edelle looked at him. Her eyes had grown slightly when he bowed

"May I have this dance, my lady?" he asked in a gentle voice and held out a hand.

She smiled "I'd be delighted, Your Majesty." As she took his hand the mermaid's melody gained words and she started singing in a beautiful high-pitched tone

_I'm dying to catch my breath_

_Oh why don't I ever learn?_

Edelle saw this dance performed at a party, it looked so enchanting and so romantic, she wanted to try it with Edmund. She raised her right palm to her shoulder level and waited for him to catch up on her thought.

_I've lost all my trust though I've surely tried_

_To turn it around_

Edmund looked at her hand and got her idea, he had as well seen this dance and also thought it was beautiful. He raised his left palm to her right one and stopped only an inch from touching it. They gazed lovingly in each other's eyes and slowly turned clockwise, making two full circles.

_Can you still see _

_The heart of me?_

They stopped for a moment to switch the hands. Now her left palm was almost touching his right one as they made another slow turn in the opposite direction. They halted and raised now both their hands as they moved clockwise once more.

_All my agony fades away_

_When you hold me in your embrace_

Finally Edmund caught her right hand and placed the other on her waist, as she wrapped her free hand around his neck, and they simultaneously stepped close to each other.

_Don't tear me down _

_For all I need_

Edelle stepped back and Edmund stepped forward, they rocked to and fro as elegantly as the waves.

_Make my heart a better place_

_Give me something I can believe_

Edelle let go of his neck and Edmund swirled her around, before she returned to her former position.

_Don't tear me down_

_You've opened the door now_

_Don't let it close_

They twirled around the room as professional dancers and Edelle and Edmund felt like there was just the two of them in the whole world.

_I'm here on the edge again_

_I wish I could let it go_

_I know that I'm only one step away _

_From turning around_

They felt like time stopped from them and the earth stopped revolving for these minutes. Edelle slipped her arm from around his neck and danced away gracefully so that they were two arms away from each other, and then spinned back to him, so that her back was pressed against his front.

_Can you still see _

_The heart of me?_

_All my agony fades away_

_When you hold me in your embrace_

They stayed like that for a moment and then Edelle turned around to face him again. She snaked her arms around his neck and he pulled her close, placing his around her lower back as their bodies pressed together.

_Don't tear me down _

_For all I need_

_Make my heart a better place_

_Give me something I can believe _

They moved from side to side, clutching to each other tightly and neither had ever felt more peaceful in their entire life. They felt each other's hearts beating against their chests and that made them feel even closer.

_Don't tear me down_

_What's left of me_

_Make my heart a better place_

They slowly pulled apart and their eyes connected with the same adoring gaze and the same affectionate smile. Edmund leaned down and tenderly pressed his lips to her's.

_Make my heart a better place…._

Edelle sighed happily against his lips and pressed forward, deepening the kiss. They never wanted this to end, but the need for air made them part, and when they did, the song ended and the melody gradually became less and less audible, until it evaporated completely.

**I was dying to make a romantic dance scene with them and I couldn't fit a radio in there now, could I? So I thought the mermaid might do.) The song is All I Need by Within Temptation, I really suggest you listen to it, as it is my favorite slow song EVER. Anywayz, you know what to do-link below-click- state your opinion. Love you all!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N.****I would like you to welcome my new reader and reviewer- Niphuria. She's a very good friend of mine and a great writer herself. This chapter gets a bit tense, hope you like it!)**

**Chapter 11.**

For long moments they just stood in front of each other, holding hands and smiling dreamily. Edelle felt light-headed and her thoughts were minimal: "Wow…he sure can dance…well ,no wonder-he's a King, he must have been through hundreds of balls...what have I done to deserve him?...And Eustace can hardly waltz…OH MY GOSH! Eustace!" Her eyes suddenly grew wide and Edmund asked, concerned at the sudden change in her expression.

"Edelle? What's wrong?"

"Edmund, I need to tell you something."

He furrowed his eyebrows "What is it?"

She took a deep breath and looked down, not wanting to look him in the eyes "It's Eustace. He came up to me today and confessed. He said he likes me, a lot. We talked and…you probably wouldn't believe it…but inside he's actually a nice guy. He just doesn't want to show it, he wants to appear formal and he just doesn't like you guys, that's the main reason why he is acting the way he does. The real him is very different and if you get to know him…if he ever let you get to know him, you will find it too. The way he spoke to me…so unsure, so gentle, so kind…it's like I was talking to a totally different guy."

Edmund listened in astound and slight disbelief. And he couldn't be blamed- after all, the Eustace he knew was completely different from the one Edelle discovered. That Eustace was mean, wimpy, greedy, sneaky and an obnoxious snob! He could hardly imagine there was another side of him, a nice side. But he knew Edelle didn't like Eustace before either, and if she said he has good in him, there's a damn good chance he does.

Edelle looked at his confused, serious and slightly astonished expression and could tell he was having a hard time bringing himself to believe her. She sighed

"I don't want to hurt him. I didn't before and I now I just can't." she looked up at him with sad eyes "Edmund...I don't know what to do, I feel so cornered..."

He looked at her, understanding and feeling sorry for her. He knew she loved him, and he also knew that now she cared for Eustace, he was her friend and, of course, she didn't want to hurt him. He hated what she had to deal with, but the one thing he hated even more than that, was that he could do nothing about it. He could comfort her, he could soothe her, he will be with her through it all, but about the whole situation-he could do nothing. They belonged to each other, Edelle will never marry Eustace, he had to know, they had to hurt him. They had no choice.

He brought his hands to the either side of her neck and gently made her look at him "Edelle, I'm sorry for all of this…I didn't want you to go through that for me, I know it's dreadful. But you know what we have to do."

She eyes him, and then slowly, sadly nodded her head, lowering her eyes.

Edmund leaned in and kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes and hugged him tightly, as he wrapped his arms securely around her. After a minute they parted and Edelle knew it was time.

"He should be in his room…"

Edmund nodded "Yeah." He took a breath "Come on, we have to get this over with."

She nodded and, with heavy hearts, they went to Eustace's room. As they reached their destination Edelle raised her fist and paused for a moment. She knew that it was not too late to turn around and Edmund would understand, but if she now knocked, there was no going back. She glanced up at Edmund and he gave her an encouraging look and half-smile. She breathed in deeply and finally knocked the door.

"Who's there?" came the usual annoyed voice from the other side.

"Um, it's me…and Edmund. We need to talk to you."

He grunted at the mention of Edmund's name, hardly-audibly, but she could make it out.

"It's open." He muttered and Edelle turned the doorknob and they walked in.

Eustace was sitting on the bed, reading a book, his back leaning against the side wall. They walked closer and sat on the two chairs next to each other. Eustace glanced at them, put the book aside and folded his arms on his chest. "Well, what is it?"

Edelle's heart was beating rapidly from the nervousness she felt and decided to first try and prepare him for what's he's about to hear. Clearly, whatever he was thinking right now, it was far away from the truth.

"Eustace, we're here for something serious. Really serious. And quite…personal" she looked up at him and saw Eustace's expression stiffen and could catch a glimpse of anxiety in his eyes.

She paused for a moment, in case he says something, and when he didn't she continued

"You obviously already taken note of the fact that I came not alone and…Edmund's here for a reason. There's something the both of us need to tell you. Something you wouldn't like…wouldn't like at all…"her voice became slightly quieter "But you need to know."

Eustace furrowed his eyebrows and eyed her and him, nervously. He already didn't like where this was going. And the way Edelle was speaking, he knew she was trying to _prepare_ him for something.

Edelle took one last deep breath "You said you like me. That was really surprising and flattering. I know it must have cost you a lot to say that and after you did…I figured that I care for you too, I know, inside you're a very nice guy with a good heart. There is nothing I would want less than to hurt you like that. But…"

She gathered up all her mental strength and finally forced the words past her lips "Edmund and I are together. We love each other more than anything and I hope, with all I got, that you would ever bring yourself to forgive me."

She felt tears of sorrow for him making their way to her eyes. "I'm sorry, Eustace, I can't marry you."

At that moment Eustace felt something he never felt before. Something so strong, it almost hurt even physically. He felt as if something inside him tore into shreds, and he instantly knew what that reaction was- the sense of a broken heart. He looked in Edelle's tear-filled, pleading eyes and felt like crying too. But no, he couldn't, not in front of…_him._ That minute, he felt his heartbreak grow into rage and fury. He looked at Edmund, shooting daggers from his eyes. _Him_. It was all _his_ fault.

Edmund looked back at him, never averting his gaze. He understood his reaction, he expected it. Edmund knew that if Eustace didn't like him before, now he hated him more than anything. He could see the fury in his eyes, but kept a straight face through it all. His eyes grew wider only when Eustace suddenly sprang to his feet, with clenched fists. Edmund instantly got up too and here they stood, face-to-face. Edelle also shot from her chair, in worry that Eustace might try to hit Edmund, and force him to fight back. And when he does, Eustace will lose.

But, luckily, no strike came. They just stood there, burning holes in each other until Eustace could take it no longer

"Out." He uttered through clenched teeth.

"Eustace…" Edelle started

"Out! Both of you, get out! Now!" he yelled in pure rage.

Edelle and Edmund shot each other alert glances, and knew it was better to leave him alone for now. They quickly walked to the door and swiftly brisked through. As soon as they were out, the door was loudly and sharply slammed behind them.

They looked at each other with grief and sorrow. The felt so blameworthy, but they knew it had to be done. Right now, all they could was wait and hope he'll get over it…someday.

**Ouch. There we go, pretty angsty, huh? Hope you liked it, and please tell me what you think. *loves***


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N. Hi everyone, here I am with a new chapter. Also, if anyone's interested, my boyfriend (the doppelganger) found out about what I'm doing here and wants to read my fanfics too. Whoa, I didn't expect him to be interested…but I'm so happy he actually wants to know what I do in free time. "Maybe you're the next Agatha Christie" he said. I laughed "F.Y.I., she wrote detectives, I write adventure and romance." He chuckled "Whatever, she's still famous, maybe someday you'll be too." Urgh, yeah right…boys can be so naïve sometimes) Anywayz, enough of my chatter, on with the story!**

**Chapter 12.**

Edmund and Edelle didn't speak as they walked through the corridors. Edelle was thinking about Eustace and if he would ever forgive her. Edmund too, was thinking about that, even though he didn't know the good side of Eustace, he still felt sorry for him. By the way he reacted when they told him, he guessed the boy really liked Edelle.

The only thing that eased their minds the slightest bit was that they were now clear before him. They had nothing to hide anymore; Eustace had to know the truth, even if it was painful.

Suddenly Edelle bumped into someone. "Okay, I seriously have to start watching where I'm going." She thought to herself.

"I'm sorry, my bad…oh, hi." She half-smiled, seeing who it was, she had just run into.

"Hi." Lucy smiled "What have you been doing?"

Edmund and Edelle shrugged uncomfortably, and Lucy furrowed her brows at their miserable expressions.

"What happened?" she asked both of them.

Edmund looked at Edelle, who had lowered her eyes and decided to tell Lucy himself.

"We just told Eustace about…us." he said.

Lucy's features tensed up and became quite worried, as she realized why they looked so pitiful.

"Well, how did it go?" she asked, probably already knowing the answer, and not really sure if she wanted to hear it.

Edelle looked up at her "I just rejected him to be with the one he hates the most, how do you think it went?"

Lucy gave a small understanding nod, her worries confirmed. She figured Eustace wouldn't be overjoyed, however she still thought it wouldn't be too bad. And, apparently, it wasn't too bad; it was worse. "What happened in there?"

"He just stared at us for moments, in complete fury, then jumped from his place and yelled at me and Edelle to get out."

"Oh dear…" Lucy said in a quiet voice. "Do you think he'll be alright?"

Edelle slowly shook her head "No. At least, not anytime soon."

"How do you know?" Edmund looked at her, questioningly.

"One of my best guy friends has been in love with a girl for a year or so. He was eighteen and the girl was seventeen. Then one day he gathered up all his guts and confessed to her. He hoped that she at least would give him a chance, but she had broken all his optimism when she said she was already engaged with another guy and what's worse- she loved her fiancé. From that day I could hardly recognize him. He became distant and depressed, he didn't want to talk to anyone or go anywhere. He hated her, he hated her fiancé, he hated the entire world. It took him almost three months to get over it, a little bit. Luckily, time always heals, so in another month he almost completely returned to his old cheerful self. But even now, whenever someone accidentally speaks her name in front of him, he tenses and his expression turns all gloomy and pathetic."

Edmund and Lucy listened and hoped that Eustace wouldn't take half-a-year to heal. After all, he said he only liked Edelle. And, to face the facts, he was still young to have serious feelings towards any girl.

"Well, in any case, we have to help him to recover from all this as soon as possible. Maybe I could go talk to him…" Lucy stepped forward

"No!" Edmund and Edelle said in unison. Edmund looked at Lucy and shook his head "He had just found out, I think it's better to give him some alone time, for now."

"I suppose you could try talking to him later, if you want. Maybe tomorrow." Edelle suggested.

Lucy sighed and knew they were right; now wasn't the best time to try and make contact with Eustace.

"Yeah, I guess tomorrow might work better. Okay, I'll leave you two alone now, if you need me- I'll be on the upper deck. Not for long, though-it's getting late." She said and disappeared upstairs.

Edmund turned his gaze form his sister to Edelle "So, what are we gonna do now?"

Edelle looked in his eyes "Actually, I wanted to go somewhere we can be alone…"

He nodded, understanding. She was going through a hard time right now, and he felt so privileged, that he was the only one she wanted to be with at that time.

"That sounds like a great idea. You wanna go to my cabin or yours?" he asked.

"Yours." She answered and he placed one arm around her waist as they walked to his cabin.

When they reached the door, they looked around to see if no one saw them and Edmund turned the doorknob, letting her in and closing the door behind him. Edelle walked to his bed and sat down, and he also took a seat by her side.

Edelle was still thinking about Eustace, but now from a different angle. She remembered how that guy she was telling about began hating everything and how he even tried to get in the way of the girl's engagement. She suddenly became worried. Edmund quickly detected her troubled expression.

"Edelle?" he looked at her. "What are you thinking about?"

She tilted her head to him "I'm thinking…knowing Eustace's character, I'm kind of afraid, what if he wants revenge? What if he tries to break us apart?"

Edmund exhaled and tenderly tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "That's never gonna happen. Nothing can break us apart, and even if he tries to, I'll never let him."

She leaned into his touch "I know, but…now that I thought of it, he just has so many opportunities of doing so. He could, for example, threat to tell the entire London that his intended, Edelle Gilbert, had been sneaking out with another man, and then can you imagine what everyone will say about me? All my honor and respect would be gone forever." she sighed "You know English rules, Edmund. If an engaged girl shows any affection to any other man than her future husband, she would be considered a simple harlot!" she said the last words an octave higher and lowered her gaze, bitterly.

Edmund took her face in his hand and made her look at him "Edelle, you are not a harlot! And if anyone dares to even think of you as that, that person will have me to deal with first."

She felt her heartbeat quicken at his words and tears begin to form in her eyes "But it's not just about me, if people start talking like that, it will automatically shame the whole family. And I know how my parents are. If something like that happens, they will definitely want to move to another country. You know my father is very rich and we have residences abroad. What then, Edmund?" by now tears were trickling from her eyes.

He shook his head and pressed his forehead against her's. "I won't let you go. You will stay and live with me and my family.

Edelle's breath was shattered as she said, her voice merely above a whisper "Yes…I will stay with you…I'll be with you until the day you no longer want me…"

"Forever." He breathed

She raised her eyes, which were already only inches apart from his and looked at him "What?"

"You will be with me forever." He repeated and leaned in, past the little distance, pressing his lips fully and fervently to her's.

**I didn't get as much reviews for the last chapter as I usually do…come on, girls, I know you can do it!) Thank you.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N. Okay, here it is-the chapter most of you have been waiting for) I just wanted to remind you that the story's rating is M, for a reason. Enjoy! *wink***

**Chapter 13.**

_Previously_

_Edmund pressed his forehead against her's _. "_I won't let you go. You will stay and live with me and my family. _

_Edelle's breath was shattered as she said, her voice merely above a whisper "Yes…I will stay with you…I'll be with you until the day you no longer want me…"_

"Forever_." He breathed_

_She raised her eyes, which were already only inches apart from his and looked at him "What?"_

"_You will be with me forever." He repeated and leaned in, past the little distance, pressing his lips fully and fervently to her's._

Edelle reacted instantly, winding her arms around his neck and pressing herself to him. Edmund breathed heavily against her mouth and moved his hands from her face to her waist and lower back and pressed her body even tighter to his. Edmund opened his mouth and pushed his tongue into her mouth, and she readily welcomed him.

Their conversation, the exchange of their vows to always be together no matter what, served to enflame them both and made them feel closer than ever before. They never where so full of emotion and consuming love for one another. They clung to each other as strongly as they could, but that wasn't enough. They both felt the unbearable urge to bond themselves in every possible way.

The passion they felt for each other made them forget about everything, and do only what their hearts told them to.

As Edmund's tongue gazed hers', Edelle moved her arms from his neck and began sliding them up and down his body. She wanted to feel him, really feel him. She snaked her hands up to the collar of his shirt and began undoing the buttons, like she tried to do on the night they confessed to each other, except this time, he did nothing to stop her. She smiled against his demanding mouth and nimbly worked her fingers to undo his buttons. Finally, the last one was open and Edelle slid the shirt from his body, exposing Edmund's bare chest and torso to her.

She pulled back from the kiss and set her gaze on what she had uncovered, admiring him. Just as she thought, Edmund was sculpted perfectly. She eyed his strong, pale chest and toned abdomen. Edelle couldn't help it, she reached and grazed her hands over his stomach, slowly making her way up to his chest.

Edmund closed his eyes and breathed in deeply at the feeling of her hands on his bare body. He opened his eyes and finally let his desires take over, as he reached his hands around her back and slowly pulled her zipper down, loosening up her dress. He then moved his fingers to her straps and looked at her, asking for permission. The answer was a feverish nod and he dragged the straps down her arms and let her dress cascade down her upper body to her waist. Before moving his fingers to her bra, he cupped her chin and raised it, making her look at him. What he saw surprised him greatly, her eyes were burning with desire and Edmund felt lust and need rise within him, centering down below his belt, at the way she was looking at him. This was what he had been waiting for. This was what he wanted more than anything, to be with her, like this. But he had to be sure she was willing to continue beyond this point. He had to know if she was certain about this, before things get really serious.

"Edelle, are you absolutely sure about this? I know you want it now, but I need to know you won't regret this in the morning." He said, blushing at his words, and at the meaning beneath them.

Edelle blushed too, but looked in his eyes, confidently "Yes, I want this. I've already decided that you're the only man I'd give myself to. Please, Edmund, make me yours forever." She breathed and Edmund felt his heart speed up more than he thought possible. She was ready, and she was willing to give herself to him right now.

Edmund took one last look in her eyes, searching for any sign of mistrust or doubt. Seeing nothing but blazing desire and encouragement, he took a breath and moved his hands behind her back once again and unclasped her bra, letting it fall from her shoulders.

Edmund's eyed widened and she gasped as her breasts were exposed to him. Edelle blushed furiously under the intense gaze the man of her dreams was giving her. She had never been this exposed in front of anyone before, not counting her mother. For a moment she felt worried, unsure if he liked what he saw. What if she is not beautiful enough? What if she is not even close to anything he had fantasized? But when she looked in his eyes, the hungry fire burning in them erased her worries.

Edmund stared in awe, taking in the sight of her. Edelle was right. She was nothing like Edmund had fantasized; she was, in fact, far better. He has never seen a woman naked, or even half-naked before. Not that he ever wanted to, if the woman was not Edelle. Her peaks weren't very big, nor small, they seemed just right to fill his palm and he felt his pants tightening even more at the thought. He slowly brought his hand up and softly caressed the side of her left breast and heard Edelle gasp at his touch. He quickly snatched his hand away, fearing he had done something he shouldn't have, but all his worries faded away as she grabbed his hand and replaced it back on her breast, pressing his palm firmly to her.

Edmund's eyes closed for a moment, his mind relishing in the feeling of the soft flesh that had been so generously offered to his touch. He felt the incredible softness of her skin and the pebble-hard nipples against his palm and lightly grasped her. He brought his other hand up to her right breast and massaged her gently with his both hands. Edelle tossed her head back and moaned quietly at his handling and wind her arms under his shoulders, pressing herself to him. They both gasped at the first contact of their bare skin and Edmund gently gripped the back of her neck, tilting her head to him and attacking her lips with his. He plunged his tongue into her mouth and she moaned in the kiss, finding that she utterly loved this possessive and vigorous side of him. After a while they pulled back, it was time to lose some more clothing.

Edmund watched in daze as she boldly reached down and began undoing his belt buckle. As it came undone, Edelle began pulling the waistline of his pants down, but it was rather difficult to do, sitting on the bed. He saw her battling and decided to help her with that; he got up for a moment and his face turned a light shade of pink as he took off his pants. Edelle's eyes grew wide and she felt the pressure between her thighs increase, as she saw he was wearing nothing else underneath. Well, obviously, it was all Caspian's clothing and Edmund, thank god, knew better than to borrow someone else's underwear. She stared at him for moments, her eyes mostly fixed on the one specific body part she had never seen before in her life. Edmund's…thing…was rather big, bigger than she thought it would be. She flushed bright red as she wondered how on earth is this going to fit inside of her…but she knew she was being ridiculous, her body was made for this, it will flow along perfectly.

Edelle looked up in Edmund's eyed and figured her staring was making him somewhat uncomfortable and she hurried to explain

"Oh, I'm sorry, Edmund I shouldn't stare like that…it's just that I haven't seen…this before."

"It's alright, I..understand." He muttered and then joined her back on the bed and pulled her in for another needy kiss. While pressing his mouth to her's, he rotated them both on the bed, so that the back of her head was facing the headboard. Edelle's heartbeat sped up and was racing faster than she could have imagined, as she felt Edmund slowly pushing her to lie down and getting on top of her. He was being very careful not to crush her with his weight; he supported himself on his elbows, so that his hands were on the either side of her ribcage, his thumbs grazing the sides of her breasts. Edmund pulled back from her lips and began planting gentle kisses on her neck, making his way downwards.

She closed her eyes, drowning in the sensation of his soft lips peppering the skin of her cleavage with his kisses. He kissed over her collar bone and then his mouth reached her breast. Edelle panted heavily and threw her head back, crying out in intense pleasure as his lips made contact with her nipple and circled around it. He gently sucked and even tried nibbling on it several times, being rewarded by her moans and pants. Edmund then moved down, kissing his way down her flat stomach. As he reached the spot just below her belly-button, he hooked his fingers on the sides of her dress, which was now all gathered there and looked up at her, mentally asking for her consent. Edelle caught his questioning, desperate gaze and quickly nodded her head, signaling for him to do as he wished.

Edmund took a breath and, with her permission, pulled her dress down her thighs and legs, finally leaving her gloriously naked before him. He carelessly tossed the piece of cloth aside and gently spread her legs, allowing himself to look at the most intimate and secluded part on Edelle's body. Edelle flushed as she felt his gaze on that most secret place, which gave away just how much she wanted him to take her. Edmund stared at the alluring folds of her womanhood. Feeling his manhood throb almost painfully, he felt that he couldn't hold himself back any longer.

Edmund crawled up to her and their eyes connected. They gazed lovingly and amorously at each other, hardly believing what was about to happen. Edmund couldn't conceal his delight from this. In mere seconds, Edelle would be completely and utterly his. And she was so looking forward to it.

Then something crossed Edmund's mind, something he completely forgot about. He would be taking her innocence and that means, it's going to hurt her. His eyes suddenly filled with regret and Edelle asked

"Edmund, what' wrong?"

He slowly, bitterly shook his head "I don't want to hurt you…"

She smiled warmly and rested her palm on his face, making him look at her "You won't be hurting me too much, you will be releasing the ache in me I've had for a long time…for you. You're my first and only man, Edmund, and that's just the small part I have to go through, don't worry, my love."

He felt shivers run through all his body at what she had called him and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

"I'll be as gentle as I can." He promised and positioned himself at her entrance. Edelle braced herself and mentally said good bye to her maidenhood, as she felt Edmund's slowly thrust into her bosom, stretching her sheath and making his way into her body. Edelle tensed up, not being used to accommodating something like that, but did her best to hide her discomfort. Edmund pushed in further and hit a wall, giving her one last apologetic look. She clutched her teeth, and bit her lip hard as he plunged into her, once and for all breaking her virginity barrier. Edelle let out a short squeal, and Edmund halted his movements, giving her time to adjust to him inside of her.

"I'm sorry, love, I'm so sorry…" he kept muttering and kissing her face in apology. She clutched his shoulders and panted heavily. It was done, she was now entirely his, forever. After a minute she gave a small buck of her hips and he gently continued his ministrations. He slowly pulled out of her and then pushed back in. Edmund was losing his mind at the sensation of her hot, slick cavern tightening around his shaft. He was sure nothing could even compare to the waves of indescribable pleasure rushing through him.

Edelle was still a bit uncomfortable, but as he pulled out and then filled her up, she also felt a spark of pleasure pass through her lower abdomen. As he repeated his action she felt it once more, except this time, it was a lot stronger than before. With each thrust of Edmund's member into her, Edelle felt the unfamiliar sensation building up powerfully inside her and she started moaning, softly at first, and then louder and louder.

The sound of her sweet, pleasure-filled moans worked to drive Edmund near the edge of sanity. He knew he was the reason for this and sped up his movements to give her more. Edelle was now panting heavily and moaning at each his thrust, clutching onto his shoulders forcefully. She wrapped her legs around his waist, urging him in deeper and faster. Edmund groaned and complied, thrusting his hips against hers harder and faster repeatedly hitting her in just the right spot. Her moans were like music to his ears, telling him he was doing really well. Edmund bent down and gave her a hot, penetrating kiss. He slid his tongue past her lips and they once again explored passionately each other's mouths, eliciting small groans from one another. They parted and Edmund growled as her passage clenched over him.

"Ah..Edmund…" she moaned and pulled his body flush against her's.

Hearing Edelle moan his name in such an erotic way almost sent him over the edge, but he wanted to experience it with her. Edmund thrust wildly into her, thinking of nothing but the feeling of her sensitive, responsive body against his. Suddenly, Edelle's moans became louder and her panting grew more feverish and heated than before, he felt her walls tightening impossibly around him as she thrust her hand up to cover her mouth (the last thing she wanted is to wake the entire ship) and screamed into it in pure ecstasy, which was rushing through her body. The incredible feeling momentarily caused the knot inside Edmund's lower stomach to rapidly fly apart, sending him over the edge of oblivion, the most glorious, never before known gushes of pleasure jolting through him. Edmund gave several more deep thrusts into her, as he filled her with his seed and collapsed on top of her, panting heavily. Edelle was surprised that his weight was so comforting, not suffocating as she thought it would be.

They lay there, in the heavenly aftermath of their love-making, trying to catch their breath and return to their senses. When Edmund's breathing returned to normal he gave her a gentle kiss on the lips and weakly rolled off of her and Edelle wrapped her left arm around his neck and cuddled to his side. He immediately slid one arm around her waist and pressed her firmer to him with the other. They lay silent for moments, then Edelle tilted her head up to look at him and whispered

"I love you, Edmund, more than I ever thought possible." she breathed

He kissed her hair "I love you too, Edelle, you're my life now." He whispered, and closed his eyes. "You're mine."

She smiled, already being half-asleep "I'm yours…and you're mine…"

"M-hm…" he murmured and, in less than a minute, they were fast asleep, satisfyingly ending the best night of their lives…so far.

**This was only the second lemon I ever wrote, so I hope it was fairly-presentable. I tried to make it as perfect and intimate as possible, so please tell me what you think. Thank you) *loves***


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N. So sorry it took me so freakishly long to update! My network has been out and…yeah. Hope you're not too mad at me and here you go- a new chapter.)**

**Chapter 14.**

Edmund was the first one to wake up this time. The moment he opened his eyes a dreamy smile tugged at his mouth as he felt the warm body in his arms, cuddled to his side, sleeping peacefully. He momentarily recalled what happened last night and instinctly tightened his grip around her. Edelle, now entirely his forever. He began tenderly stroking her hair, wondering if he had ever felt cozier and calmer. He bent down and lightly brushed his lips against her's. In a moment he felt her body stir a bit and her eyes slowly fluttered open and she immediately caught his gaze, as their faces were mere inches apart.

She smiled lovingly and pressed her lips to his, returning the light brush, then looked at him adoringly "Good morning."

He smiled back "Good morning, love. How did you sleep?"

"Wonderful, better than I can remember." She breathed and pressed even closer to him.

"Me too…that was the best night of my life."

"Mine too" she grinned "But I wouldn't know if that's the best night of our lives."

He looked at her questioningly "Why?"

"Well, there will be much more so I wouldn't judge now." She smirked and he blushed at her words, but smiled mischievously.

Edelle looked suspiciously at his naughty grin and then her eyes had grown wide: in less than a second Edmund swiftly flipped them over, so that he was on top of her again. "We sure have a lot ahead of us, don't we?" He said in a low, seductive almost-whisper and leaned down, kissing her on the mouth. She chuckled vaguely against the kiss and responded affectionately.

Then all of a sudden they heard a knock at the door. Edelle immediately pushed Edmund off of her and they both sat up on the bed.

"Knock-knock" came Lucy's voice from the other side of the door. Thank heavens, she didn't come in.

"Oh, Lucy…" Edmund replied, his voice a little shaky, as he was also worried if she'll open the door any second. "What is it?"

"On nothing," Lucy said carelessly "Just wanted to wake you up, before Caspian does, it's almost eleven o'clock."

"Oh, okay, I'm up, I'm coming." He stammered, now sure that she wouldn't walk in.

"Alright, I'll be on the upper deck then…and, Edelle, could you please help me find my dagger when you're ready, I've been looking all over for it."

"Okay." Edelle said and instantly snatched her hand to cover her mouth, wide-eyed. Edmund shot his head to her.

"Thank you!" Lucy said in the same every-day tone and they heard her walk away.

Edelle slowly moved her hand down from her mouth, her cheeks a lovely shade of red and her eyes more astonished than ever.

"Oh my gosh...she knew." Edelle closed her eyes for a moment and Edmund nodded his head. "Well, she sounded pretty casual; I don't think it hit her at all." He said.

She looked at him "She did, but…oh, I don't know, but if I knew my brother was in bed with my friend I'd be pretty revolted. Much less willing to speak to them at the precise moment."

Edmund smiled "Lucy always had a special view on life. Don't worry, she said she's happy for us, remember?"

She smiled too "Yeah, I know. But this was still kind of awkward."

He chuckled "Won't complain on that."

They laughed and Edmund got up, getting dressed. He pulled on his trousers, though remaining shirtless and turned to Edelle, who was still sitting on the bed, hugging her knees. "Aren't you gonna get dressed?"

"In a minute…" she yawned.

He chuckled and unexpectedly jumped on the bed atop her, tickling her mercilessly "Come on, sleeping beauty, wake up already, the day awaits!"

She laughed loudly "St…Stop it! Please, stop! I can't…I can't take it!" He laughed with her and seized his tickle attacks. They looked at each other affectionately and Edmund pecked her on the lips before getting up, Edelle following him. She found her dress and slipped in on over her head, while Edmund began buttoning up his shirt. She saw this and stepped to him, shooing his hands away and began doing it herself. He looked at her slightly confused, but still pleased. "I could have done that myself."

She smiled "I know, but you know how a wife helps her husband with his tie? I just felt like doing something like that."

He grinned "Preparing for the future, honey?"

"Absolutely, my love." She finished with his buttons and kissed him lightly on the corner of his mouth. "All done, let's go."

They smiled and exited Edmund's cabin, walked through the corridor and headed upstairs.

**Aww, sweet, eh?) Hope you liked it. Don't forget to review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N. Oh boy, I hope posting once in two weeks is not too cruel…I try! But it just so happens that I, personally, don't have network on my computer (territorial issues). So every time I post something, it's either from the school computer or from my dad's work. So whenever the gap in my updates gets slightly bigger-this has nothing to do with me being lazy (just so you know)) And the past week was school holidays so pardon me and enjoy the next chapter!**

**Chapter 15.**

As promised, Lucy was sitting on a barrel near the bark, sewing something onto her shirt; probably a button fell off again. Edelle looked at Edmund "I promised to help her find her dagger."

"Yeah, go. I was going to talk to Caspian anyway. See you later, love." He quickly kissed her knuckles and went away. Edelle smiled at his charm and walked to Lucy. It felt pretty uncomfortable just walking up to her, as if nothing happened. But she remembered how she wasn't supposed to be worried and sighed confidently, speeding up her pace.

"Hi!" Lucy looked up and smiled brightly at her.

"Um…hi...so you can't find your dagger?" she asked as casually as she could.

Lucy got up from the barrel "No, I've looked all over the deck."

"Well maybe it's somewhere in your room. Come on."

Edelle and Lucy walked downstairs to Lucy's cabin and the door to it soon closed behind them. Edelle looked around, her room was pretty much the same: it also had a bed, a wardrobe, a small table and a chair.

"Okay, there isn't much space, so if it's here, we'll find it in no time." Edelle said and began searching with Lucy. They opened the wardrobe, looked under the table, under the bed, and then decided to search through the bed sheets.

As Edelle fondled with the pillows she felt that she couldn't take it anymore. This «nothing happened» atmosphere was killing her. She had to bring it up

"Lucy…how did you know?" she asked, cautiously.

Lucy smiled, knowing exactly what she meant "Edmund's room and mine are only separated by yours. The walls are thin, and neither of you were very quiet."

Edelle blushed furiously and Lucy chuckled "It's okay, I understand, you love each other. I didn't even expect you to wait until you're married. I know you will be anyway, so it doesn't really matter."

Edelle breathed out, relaxing "Thank you, Lu. I'm glad you're on our side."

Lucy smiled but thought about it for a moment "Yeah, but don't think that I'm overjoyed with this either! I mean, my brother…doing _it…_with my best friend…Urgh!" she made a disgusted face and they laughed, Edelle playfully smacking her on the forearm.

"Oh, found it!" Edelle exclaimed as the dagger fell from the pillowcase she was holding. "Are you sleeping with that thing, or what?

Lucy rolled her eyes and took the dagger from Edelle's hands. "Well it's better for my age than what you're sleeping with."

"Shut up!" Edelle said in a loud higher-pitched tone and they laughed again.

_Meanwhile in Caspian's cabin_

"…So if we keep sailing east without turning anywhere and do minimal stops on other islands, we might reach Ramandu's Island in less than three weeks. And, if the ship is strong enough, we could try and double the speed for at least five-six hours daily, then we could get there even faster." Edmund said, looking from the map to Caspian and back.

Caspian was listening to his monologue with raised eyebrows. Edmund was always good with directions and planning and he never hesitated with travelling suggestions, but today he was especially dynamic and full of life. Towards the end of his speech, a smirk began tugging at Caspian's mouth and stayed there until he was done. Edmund finally stopped talking and looked at him, eyeing particularly his smirk. "What?"

"Okay, spill it." Caspian said calmly.

Edmund furrowed his brows, quizzically "What are you talking about?"

"You're suspiciously cheerful today, what happened?" he asked, but something in his voice told Edmund he had a clue.

He shrugged "Nothing…not much."

"Really, now?" Caspian teased, and looked directly in his eyes, as if trying to look into his soul.

After a minute of the staring, Edmund gave up "Okay, okay, something did happen…"

Caspian's eyes lit up and he sat on the small couch, and Edmund joined him "What is it? Does it by any chance have something to do with Edelle?"

Only then Edmund realized that Caspian still didn't know that they were together "By some chance, it does." He said and looked away, acting all mysterious.

Caspian's grin grew even wider "Well, say it already!"

Edmund looked back at him and grinned too "Edelle and I…we confessed. We said we love each other and want to be together."

Caspian laughed, joyfully and jokingly punched Edmund's shoulder "Wonderful! I see, you're a true man now in every way." He winked at his friend and he blushed furiously. He was a man now all right…

"So, tell me!"

Edmund shot him a wide-eyed, taken aback look "Tell you what?"

Caspian chuckled "Did you two kiss? Come on, don't be shy. I'm your friend, not your girl's father."

Edmund chuckled too "Yeah, we did kiss. A couple of times." He mentally huffed at himself «_A couple of times? Try a couple of dozens times…» _

"Lucky man." Caspian said, his voice full of respect. He, himself, being three years older than Edmund, only kissed once in his life and it was Susan. "So, how far did you go?"

Edmund flushed once more. Obviously, he's going to leave out the part that Edelle and he already went through the farthest a couple could go, physically.

"We just kissed." He lied "Kissed, held hands, cuddled…"

Caspian patted Edmund's shoulder, smiling "Congratulations, my friend. She's a true jewel."

Edmund smiled "I know, thanks Caspian."

"I believe you would want to go to her now, see you later."

Edmund nodded and got up "See you." And stepped out of the cabin, walking to the upper deck, determined to get to her as fast as possible.

**Here you go) As always, don't forget to hit that little blue link down there, please please **_**please**_** review! Thank you)**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N. Here I am, with a new chapter. ****Hope you like it!**

**Chapter 16.**

"Dear Diary, yesterday must have been the worst day of my life. Honestly, I didn't even think I'd be able to sleep, but actually, all the trauma had proved to be very tiring and before it was even dark I was out like a light. I can't believe she rejected me like that…well, actually, I can. After all, she's older, she's smarter, she's just…_her._ Damn Edmund! That girl-stealing idiot! Though, can I really call him that? She was never mine in the first place…no, heck, she was! She was my fiancé! _Was_…spiteful word. I shouldn't have even come up to her then, I shouldn't have told her anything. How could I be so stupid to think she could ever like me back? What made me think she would even consider me when there's someone like him around? Oh right, he's strong, brave, handsome…everything I'm not. But even so, my family is wealthier; we have much more useful connections in the London society, so much the marriage could have given her. And what does he have to offer? Sure, their father works in America, so what? Even their house is smaller than ours…" Eustace put his pen down and sighed. He hadn't been eating anything since yesterday and what was the point in starving himself? It wasn't gonna change anything.

He put his diary aside and walked out of his cabin, heading to the upper deck hoping to get his mind off the recent events…as much as possible.

_******Meanwhile, on the upper deck. ******_

Edelle let out a shriek as Edmund lifted her up by the waist from behind and spun her around. He smiled and swirled her effortlessly, and she laughed in elation. He seemed to like tearing her from the ground, at moments like that she always marveled his strength.

Obviously, by now the entire Dawn Treader crew knew about their relationship and were smiling and cheering at the scene. Resting against the bark of the ship were Lucy and Caspian. They had also been smiling and chortling as they watched the two in the centre of the deck.

"They've been like that for quite some time now, weren't they?" Caspian stated, rather than asked.

Lucy chuckled "A week, to be precise."

"And you knew for how long exactly?"

"Five days." She smiled and tilted her head to him.

Caspian slowly shook his head "Why do I always get involved last?" he laughed to himself.

Lucy laughed too "Technically, you weren't the last. The real last one was Reep." She glanced at the noble mouse as he cheered several feet away from them.

Then her expression stiffened a bit "Though I know a certain someone who'd give up a lot to be the last one to know…or rather not to know at all."

Caspian's brows furrowed quizzically "Who's that?"

She sighed "Eustace."

"And why is that?"

Lucy let out a bitter half-smile "Edelle was supposed to be his fiancé, their parents arranged it for the future and he really liked her a lot."

Caspian's expression turned slightly more concerned "Seriously? His fiancé?" he asked in disbelief.

Lucy nodded her head.

"Wow...and he already knows about them, doesn't he?"

She nodded again.

"Oh dear, that's gotta be rough."

"It was. Edmund and Edelle said he took it pretty hard. Well, we can't really blame him for that."

"Sure thing." He huffed and they looked back the couple.

Edmund finally put Edelle down and turned her to face him, his arms still around her waist.

She giggled "You're always doing that as if I weight nothing!"

"That's because you do weight nothing. To me, at least." He grinned and suddenly caught her face in his hands and pulled her in for a fervent kiss, crashing his lips against hers.

She let out a short squeal of surprise- she didn't expect him to do something like that in front of the entire ship! And once he did, the crew almost burst in applause, voices of encouragement and approval filled the deck and some sailors whistled loudly.

And just then the small door from the lower level opened and the subject of Lucy and Caspian's conversation appeared on the deck.

"What's the dreadful noise all about?" he grumbled and then his sight fell on the exact reason. His expression quickly turned from complaining to hurt, as he involuntary backed up against the deck next to Lucy. For some reason, he found that he couldn't move or look away from the scene, as much as he wanted to close his eyes and run.

To complete the picture, Lucy didn't seem to be aware of Eustace standing right next to her, as she sighed in a swoon-like manner "They look so great together!"

"Shut up." Eustace said through clenched teeth with a stiff expression.

Only then did Lucy's head turn to him and she gaped in surprise, wanting to slap herself at the moment. Finally, not being able to bear this any longer, Eustace rushed from his place back downstairs.

"Eustace, wait!" Lucy shouted and ran after him. She followed him until they reached the door to his cabin and he slammed it closed, as Lucy almost ran into it. She knocked on it hard "Eustace, open up!"

"Go away!" came from the inside.

She knocked again, this time even harder "Open up, I want to talk to you!"

"Well I don't want to talk to you!" he yelled. But one knows that if Lucy Pevensie was up to something, she wouldn't stop at anything until it's done.

She stopped banging on the door and tried speaking as gently as she could.

"Eustace, I know it's a tough experience and you're hurt, but…"

"But what? You don't know a heck about how I feel, and stop acting like you actually care!"

"I'm not acting, I do care! You're my cousin, Eustace!"

"Oh yeah? Well I'm Edmund's cousin too, but that didn't stop him from…from…" he stopped yelling and Lucy listened carefully. In a minute or so, she could clearly make out quiet sobs.

Enough was enough, she pulled out her dagger and unlatched the door lock herself and walked in. Eustace was sitting on his bed, leaning against the wall, hugging his knees, his head buried in them. Lucy slowly moved closer and sat next to him. When he didn't tell her to leave him, she sat even closer and cautiously put one arm around his quivering shoulders, hoping he wouldn't freak out. Much to her shock, he did nothing to shoo her away, just his sobs got a bit louder.

She started carefully rubbing his forearm up and down, trying to calm him down. "There, there…it's gonna be okay soon, you'll get over it. You're right, I don't know how it feels, but I can see it hurts. But, Eustace, you have to understand…or at least try to. They love each other, they really do, and torturing yourself about it isn't gonna make it any better."

"But…I can't help it…I like her so much…" he uttered between sobs.

"_Like_ her! Exactly my point. You have to admit it-what you feel for Edelle is not real love. You like her, a lot, but love is so much more than that. It's in the way people look at each other, the way they act when they're together, what they would do for one another…everything she and Edmund is-that's what real love looks like."

Eustace's sobs got quieter, but did not subside completely, and he did something very un-Eustace like, something that showed just how much he needed someone around. He slowly leaned into Lucy, so she could wind both her arms around him and she did. She held him to her and lightly rocked them back and forth until he stopped crying and she could tell he fell asleep. She carefully laid him down on the bed and walked out of the room, making sure to be very quiet as she closed the door behind her.

**Okay, just to clear it out from the start- Lucy and Eustace will grow pretty close during the story, since he'd lost Edelle, I thought he needed someone else to try and fill the gap. BUT, no matter how close they seem, absolutely NOTHING romantic is going to happen between them! I think incest is…well...wrong, IMHO. I am not, in any way, judging anyone who's into such stuff- everyone has the right to personal likes and dislikes. I'm just stating my opinion, and if it doesn't go with yours, please don't take it personally.**

**As always, review, review, review! It really helps me, like, a lot.**

**Seriously, a lot.)**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N. Okay, I would like you all to stand up and wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my new reviewer- gaarsaku4ever. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GIRL! Better late than never, eh? I'm sorry, I just couldn't update sooner.**

**To those of you who want an OC for Caspian- I'm sorry, that's not part of my plan. The thing is, Caspian is actually one of my least favorite characters, I'd been holding a grudge on him since the very first time I saw him in the second Narnia movie. I really can't put my finger on why, but I just do. I know, you'd probably think I'm weird, but I guess he's just not my type and I don't see what's the big fuss around him all about. In fact, I'm so uninterested in him, that if Ben Barnes walked right past me in a street, I don't think I'd have even asked him for an autograph. Yeah, it's THAT serious. Now, I hope this clears something up a bit, on with the story!**

**Chapter 17**

During that day, the later it got, the more dark clouds emerged in the sky. It seemed as if the temperature was dropping by a degree with each passing minute, it was slowly getting more windy and cold. By the time it was eight o'clock in the evening the coldness and the wind had turned into a real storm, so severe that practically no one was to be found on the upper deck, except for Reepicheep and several sailors on duty. The rest were downstairs minding their own business or talking.

Such a rapid weather change immediately caught Drinian's concern and he politely requested Caspian and Edmund to meet up with him in Caspian's cabin, as it had all the maps. Edmund and Edelle were in his cabin ,so he told her to wait for him and went to the unexpected meeting. Soon the three were in Caspian's room. By that time the storm had grown so brutal, the waves tossed the ship mercilessly and it was rocking around like mad. Obviously, now all three had a clue of why they were here. Caspian went to sit down on a couch by the window and Edmund held onto a wooden strut to keep himself firmly on the ground. Drinian walked to the unfolded map on the table and pointed to a place somewhere in the middle from Coriakin's Island and Ramandu's.

"So, we're stuck here, right in-between, with food and water for two more weeks max." He stated with a hint of irritation and held onto the ceiling  
"This is your last chance to turn back, Your Majesty. There's no guarantee we'll spot the Blue star any time soon, not in this storm. We're gonna destroy the ship trying to find this Ramandu place. We could sail right past it and tip of edge of the world."

"Or get eaten by a sea-serpent" Edmund retorted sarcastically, clearly not intending to go with the idea of turning back.

Caspian and Drinian shot him an irritated look and the captain continued

"These are strange seas for sailing, the waters we've never seen before…"

Caspian didn't let him carry on and stood up "Well then, captain, perhaps you would like to be the one to explain to Mr. Rhince that we're abandoning the search for his family."

Drinian looked at him with a "haven't thought of that" look on his face and Edmund sneered at him.

The captain thought of it for a second and then nodded his head in defeat "I'll get back to it." He took his black raincoat and turned around once more before leaving the cabin

"Just a word of warning" he looked at the two "The sea can play nasty tricks on a cruise mind. Very nasty" and he walked out.

Edmund and Caspian exchanged confused looks, right now they had no idea what the captain meant by that.

Little did they know it was just about to change.

Edmund was sitting on his bed, leaning his back against the side wall, Edelle cuddled up to his side with her head resting on his shoulder. It was like the only thing that could make them feel cozy and serene is to be close to each other. He was just telling her about the earlier conversation in Caspian's cabin, with one arm wrapped around her and the other hand playing with her fingers all the while.

Edelle huffed "Did he really suggest turning back?"

"Yeah" He sighed "He actually thought we'd consider it."

"Yeah right," she tried to mimic Drinian's voice "After all we've already gone through, why don't we just leave it there and go home"

Edmund chuckled "I know, sounds stupid, doesn't it? And that weird phrase about the sea playing tricks on us…"

Edelle thought about it for a moment "Well, I wouldn't laugh about that just yet…"

He furrowed his eyebrows quizzically and slightly moved his shoulder to make her look up at him "What do you mean?"

She raised her head "I mean, he's been on seas his whole life; I don't think he'd say something like that without any meaning behind it."

Edmund smiled "Oh come on.. what? Do you think there are evil sea spirits that are waiting for foreign ships to endure their waters and then drive the crew insane and sink the ship?" he said with mock anxiety.

"Well, anything sounds stupid when you say it like that!" she responded.

"Edeeelle…"he dragged her name, showing the ridiculousness of the conversation. "These are just the sailor's superstitions. I highly doubt the possibility of sea ghosts."

She thought again and smiled "You're probably right, I'm just being paranoid."

He returned the smile and kissed her forehead "That's normal. And even if there was something, I'd protect you from any ghost in the world."

Her smile grew wider at his defensive nature and she decided to show her appreciation by pressing her lips to his. Edmund was pleasantly surprised by her kiss and responded quickly and enthusiastically. As always, the kiss enflamed rather quickly as Edmund deepened it and shifter their position so he could wrap both his arms around her middle. In return, Edelle wind her arms around his neck and opened her mouth slightly to let him in and he eagerly accepted the invitation. Not being able to keep his building desire at ease, he moved one hand from her waist and slowly made his way upwards. Just when it was about to reach her breast, she stopped his hand, what made him break the kiss

"What?" he asked confused.

She looked him in the eyes semi-seriously "You didn't think we would do it every night now, did you?"

His expression turned from confused to seductive as he leaned to her ear "Why, do you have other plans?" he whispered and planted a kiss on her neck just below her ear.

"Well…" she began, trying her best to keep her voice from breaking, as it was pretty hard to do with his hot breath and lips on her neck.

He reluctantly pulled away "Well what?"

"Actually, I'm still a bit…uncomfortable…from last night…" she explained and blushed.

At first he kept silent, but then the realization hit him and his eyes grew slightly wider "Oh...I'm sorry, love. I didn't know." He said sympathetically and pulled her to him.

"It's alright." She muttered into his chest "I'm sure I'll be fine soon enough."

They held each other for a few minutes before Edelle pulled away "Let's just go to sleep now, okay?"

"Okay." He said and they stood up to get ready for bed. He unbuttoned his shirt and threw it on the chair; she unzipped her dress and was about to slip out of it, when Edmund stepped to her and guided her hand away from the straps and zipped her up again. Now it was her turn for a confused look.

He sighed "Love, you sleeping in the same bed with me fully clothed is hard enough."

She thought for a moment and then smiled sheepishly, figuring she was about to make it even more difficult for him "Sorry."

They lay on the bed and Edmund snuggled her up to his side and wrapped his arms around her, as she pulled the blanket over them.

"So, I assume you won't be sleeping in your room anymore?" he asked, a tinge of hope audible in his voice.

She chuckled "Not unless you're in it with me."

He let out a small sigh of relief and she chuckled again "Goodnight, Edmund"

"Goodnight, my love." He tenderly kissed her hair. The ship was still rocking and after a few minutes they both fell asleep.

**Hope you liked it! And to those who do review- THANK YOU! And pleeease continue to do so, as you're the ones that make me happier than Susan in a make-up boutique)))**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N. Okay, girls, from today on my situation with the network is gonna be more difficult than ever and I really don't know when I can update next, but don't worry-I'm not gonna make you wait too long! Now, on with the chapter.)**

**Chapter 18.**

"So…we're on this ridiculous boat and lost in a tempest. Brilliant. Days and days of being tossed like a pancake and not the slightest sign of land. The only consolation is: everyone is finally as miserable as I am. Except for that show off talking rat, he's one of those annoying "glass is always half-full" types. Though I wish it was the only thing to worry about. I can't believe I broke down like that in front of Lucy Pevensie, out of all people. I actually cried in front of her and even hugged her. Completely unacceptable. Or is it? She did try to comfort me today and she almost sounded like she actually cared, weird enough. What if she did care? What if…"

Suddenly Eustace heard a knock on his door and closed his diary, stuffing it in his sock as usual. "Who's there?"

"It's me, Lucy." Came the gentle and cautious voice from the other side. "May I come in?"

He thought about it for a moment and decided it would be quite stupid, not to mention extremely rude, to tell her to go away after what she did for him. "Um, sure." He said and watched the door open as Lucy entered the room and went to sit on the bed next to him.

For a few moments they were silent, then Lucy asked "So, how are you feeling?" he looked in her eyes and could tell she didn't mean his physical health.

"Well…better, I guess." In truth, he did feel slightly better about this Edmund and Edelle thing, though he still didn't know for sure how long it will take him to get over it completely. "Do you know where is she now?" he asked.

Lucy wasn't fond of lying, but she had to, for Eustace's sake. She saw Edelle sneak into Edmund's room and didn't see her coming out. But telling Eustace that would be the equivalent to killing him now.

"She's in her room, probably already asleep." She said with a straight face, giving him no hints to doubt it.

He nodded his head and they once again sat in awkward silence. This time it was Eustace to speak up

"Look, Lucy, I'm sorry about today. My behavior was…"

"Perfectly normal." She cut him off, with an understanding half-smile "There's nothing to apologize for."

Her words relieved him, but he still felt a bit uneasy. After all, she was the only person in the world to see him at his most vulnerable state. One part of him was still embarrassed about it, the other felt like he owed her something, simply because she was there for him when he most needed to be comforted.

Lucy noticed his inner debate and decided to try and convince him more "Eustace, it's okay. Really. You just needed to let it all out to someone. You found out that they were together and then walk in right at the moment they were kissing. You're suffering your first broken heart and your reaction is nothing to be ashamed of." She assured him.

He sat there, taking it in. Maybe she was right and there was nothing to be embarrassed about after all…then his head jolted up and he looked at her wide-eyed "First? You mean, there will be more?"

She looked at him and couldn't help but chuckle at his horrified expression. "Well, let's just hope not, okay?"

He slowly nodded his head and smiled too. For several moments they were just quietly chuckling at each other and Eustace couldn't help but notice that her warm smile and kind eyes did a surprisingly good job at taking his mind off his trauma. For the second time in his life he felt like he had someone that understands him and doesn't hate him because of his exterior obnoxiousness. Who knows, maybe they could even become friends…

"Hey, um…would you like to come to Caspian's training room tomorrow morning?" Lucy suggested.

"Why?" he looked at her, puzzled

"Well, we could find you a dagger or some sort of weapon and I could try and teach you how to use it."

He smiled at that, after all, being a boy inevitably meant subconsciously liking swords and fights. "Yeah, great, I'd love to"

Lucy smiled back "Okay then, I'll come for you at ten. Goodnight, Eustace."

He nodded "Goodnight, Lucy." And with that she exited his room, leaving him to relish in the feeling of having someone around again.

Despite having Edelle's warm body cuddled to his side, Edmund was having trouble sleeping tonight. Strange thoughts just kept intruding his mind. He couldn't understand where such thoughts were even coming from. He kept tossing his head from side to side, as in attempt to shake them out when suddenly he heard a woman's voice

"Edmund…"

He glanced down at Edelle; she was fast asleep and even if she wasn't, the voice most definitely couldn't have belonged to her. For a moment he thought it was just his mind, but then he heard it again

"Edmund…come with me…"

Now he could hear it as clearly as if someone was standing right next to the bed. He quickly turned his head and his eyes widened in shock: merely two feet away from the bed was no other then than the White Witch. Although, all her form was in the green mist, she seemed so real as she spoke

"Come with me…join me!" she extended her hazy hand. At that Edmund's expression turned stern and he reached for his sword when he felt someone shake his shoulder and then…he was awake.

"Edmund!" he heard Edelle's troubled voice as he opened his eyes and jerked upwards on the bed he looked at the spot the witch had been just now, but ,of course, nothing was there.

"Edmund…" Edelle sat up and put her hand on his face, making him look at her "What is it, love? You've been tossing so violently, I almost fell out of the bed." She asked, without a tone of annoyance, but with great concern instead.

"Oh, Edelle…" he let out a relieved sigh and took her hand from his face, kissing her palm. "It's nothing…thank god you're here." He said, panting slightly and pulled her to him, holding her tightly to his body.

At that moment Edmund couldn't be more thankful that she was really here, in his bed, with him. So if he had a nightmare again, he would wake up anyway and find her fragile form snuggled up to him, and that alone would make him forget about all the nightmares in the world.

As he embraced her, she sighed sympathetically and wrapped her arms around his torso, soothingly caressing the bare skin of his back. After a few moments he let go of her and they lay back on the bed. He once again cuddled her to his side and she wrapped her arm over his rock-hard abdomen and rested her head on his chest.

"You know, I couldn't sleep well either. I was having a dream…it wasn't exactly a nightmare…it was just really strange…"

He furrowed his eyebrows "What was it about?"

She shook her head "Some other time."

He sighed, but let her dismiss the theme for now. "Well, so either we're both going mad, or something's indeed playing with our minds."

She sighed too and snuggled further into his side "Try to get some sleep okay?" she said with care and his grip tightened around her

"Yeah, you too. I love you."

"I love you too."

And this time they really did manage to get some peaceful sleep through the whole night

**As always- revi****eee****ew! You've been terrific at it lately, so please don't lose the grip! ****Love ya all!**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N. I know recently I've been making you wait longer than I used to at first, and I'm sorry. I'm trying to get to my dad's work every time there's an opportunity like today. H****ope you enjoy the new chapter!**

**Chapter 19**

The next morning arrived pretty much the same as every other day. All the sailors were up the earliest and Edmund and Edelle-the latest. It wasn't that they were both very heavy sleepers, it's just the position they were in- next to each other-made it almost impossible to get out of bed every day. But when they eventually did and went to the upper deck, they saw the ship heading some unidentified island and looked around for Caspian. Edelle spotted him next to Drinian near the stirring wheel.

"Hey, Caspian!" she shouted as they approached.

"Morning…" Edmund muttered, still not really awake because of the nightmares.

Caspian smiled as he saw the two come closer "Good morning, Edelle, Edmund." He looked at either of them "I assume you already noticed the island."

Edelle nodded "We noticed. So, I guess we finally have a chance to get some more water and food."

Caspian shrugged skeptically "I'd love to hope so. The Island doesn't look too fertile to me…"

Edelle looked at the advancing land and sighed, there sure wasn't much to get your hopes up for, but as Reepicheep always said-«We have nothing, if not belief».

"Have you seen Lucy, by the way?" Edmund asked, looking around and not spotting his sister.

"And Eustace?" Edelle also turned her head and scanned the deck.

Caspian smiled "You would be surprised, but just about half-hour ago the both of them came up to me and said they wanted to go to the training room…"

"TOGETHER?" Edmund and Edelle cried in disbelief, their eyes growing plate-wide.

Caspian laughed "Indeed. Lucy said she wanted to teach Eustace to handle some weapons."

"Eustace?" Edelle cocked an eyebrow "With a weapon?" she huffed "This oughta be fun…To watch especially. Lucy, the selfish little girl, could've told us about the little show she's putting up."

Edmund and Caspian chuckled

"You know, darlin', that actually may be a good idea. I mean, whatever works to distract him, right?" Edmund smiled.

She instantly felt a bit guilty for scolding him, Edmund was right, he did need a distraction. Well done, Lucy.

Meanwhile the ship was getting closer and closer to the foreign Island and after another fifteen minutes they were close enough to get down on small boats and port. A sailor was sent to call Lucy and Eustace from the training room as everyone was boarding the boats. Caspian, Edmund, Edelle, Lucy, Eustace, Mr. Rhince and some sailor got aboard one and Reepicheep, accompanied by Drinian and several other sailors went on the other. The men, except for Eustace that is, took the paddles and got to work.

Reepicheep studied, from the nose of the boat, the land they were moving towards "I doubt the Lords stopped here, my leash" he told Caspian "There's no sign of anything living."

"Right." Caspian said "Well, once we get ashore, take your men and search for food and water. The four of us will look for clues."

"Hang on, you mean the five of us?" Eustace complained from the back, as every pair of doubtful eyes on the boat landed on him. "Come on, please don't send me back to the rat!"

"I heard that!" Reep informed from the other yacht.

Eustace rested his elbows on his knees "Big ears.." he mumbled.

"I heard that too!"

Eustace puffed out and the rest laughed quietly.

Finally the boats approached the land and the sailors began unloading them. Everyone was getting down, and Edmund jumped off first and picked Edelle up in his arms, carrying her to the sand.

As he set her down, she crossed her arms and grinned "Show off."

Edmund chuckled and Lucy smiled at their cuteness, while Eustace rolled his eyes, annoyed and wandered off into the Island.

"Don't get lost!" Lucy shouted after him. Eustace mumbled something incoherent and proceeded walking. She sighed heavily and hurried after Caspian, Edmund and Edelle, who had already gone off to explore.

Soon they reached a crater that looked like a deep hole in the ground, going so far down, you could barely see where it reached the ground.

"Look! We're not the first ones here." Caspian said as he pointed to the rope, which was tied to a pointed stone by the crater.

"The Lords?" Edmund asked, hopefully.

"Could be." He said and looked down the hole, throwing a stone in to check the depth "What do you think could be down there?"

"Let's find out!" Edmund said and tied the end of the rope to his waist, preparing to go down first. Edelle smirked at him, her brave knight. He carefully descended all the way to the end and jumped off, Edelle, Caspian and Lucy following close behind. They were walking through the crater and looking around. It looked like any ancient ungrounded cave would, with all the stone and some water. Despite it being so deep down, the light passed to here quite easily and the place was rather well illuminated. As they came close to a pretty big pond, something weird caught Edelle's eye.

"Hey, look over here!" she said and everyone turned to where she was pointing. There, just several inches under water they could clearly see a figure of a man, a full-size figure.

Caspian walked closer "What's that?"

Edmund bent his head down to get a better look "I don't know. Looks like some sort of gold statue." He looked around and then went to one of the stone walls and tore out a branch. As everyone watched what he was doing, he advanced the pond and eased the branch into the water. What happened then made all of them gasp- the part of the branch, that was under the water began to turn gold; the goldness crawled up even to the part that was above the surface and once it almost reached Edmund's hand, he let out a yelp and dropped the branch into the strange pond.

Everyone stared in astound at the water surface. It was all clear now that the statue under it, wasn't a statue at all, it was a real man…used to be.

Caspian stepped nearer "He must have fallen in."

"Poor man." Lucy sympathized

"You mean, poor Lord." Edmund said as he nodded towards the shield that was next to the statue.

Caspian looked closely "The crest of Lord Resterm."

"And his sword!" Edmund pointed to what they've been looking for.

"We need it." Caspian said and Edmund drew out his sword and eased it in to get it.

"Be careful" "Edelle and Lucy said and Edmund hooked the tip of his sword to the handle of the one under water, slowly pulling it up and handed it to Caspian.

"Your sword hasn't turned gold." Lucy pointed out.

"Both the swords are magical" Edelle whispered.

Lucy again sympathetically looked at the statue "He mustn't have known what hit him?"

Edmund's expression turned thinking "Maybe." He studied the pose of the gold man and the branch which he dropped down there "Or maybe he was onto something."

"He's right, Lu." Edelle said, looking at the water "I think he knew pretty darn well what could hit him."

Caspian looked suspiciously, as Edmund picked up a seashell and quickly ran it through the water and dropping it as fast as possible. The plain seashell immediately turned gold. He took it in his hand and stared at it in wonder. Both Edelle's and Lucy's expressions stiffened.

"What are you staring at?" Edelle asked with a tone of disapproval.

"Whoever has access to this pool…could be the most powerful person in the world…" he said, not lifting his gaze.

Edelle, Lucy and Caspian exchanged worried glances.

Meanwhile Edmund turned his head to Edelle and she gasped as she saw his eyes. They seemed darker than usual and the fire, which was always burning in them, seemed to gain something new…something wicked. His expression didn't even seem his own now.

"Edelle, we'd be so rich, no one could tell us what to do, or who to live with. No one could stand in our way anymore." His voice sounded strange…power-hungry, even a bit venomous, she didn't even know he had that in him.

"You can't take anything out of Narnia, Edmund." Caspian interfered, thankfully.

"Says who?" Edmund retorted carelessly.

"I do." He answered sternly.

That seemed to have done it for Edmund, and Edelle became even more worried. Edmund stood up, picked up his sword and turned to Caspian, a dangerous look on his face.

"I'm no your subject." He almost hissed.

"You've been waiting for this, haven't you, to challenge me? You doubt me leadership. " Caspian stated, rather than asked.

"You doubt yourself!" Edmund stepped closer to him.

"You're a child!"

"And you're a spineless sap!" he raised his voice "I'm tired of playing second-fiddle! First it was Peter, and now it's you! You know I'm braver than both of you, why do you get Peter's sword? I deserve a kingdom of my own! I deserve to rule!"

"If you think you're so brave…" Caspian hissed "Than prove it!" He shouted as both swung their swords around, papering to strike each other. The raging sounds of clashing metal instantly filled the cave.

"No! Stop it, both of you!" Lucy jumped in between them "Look at yourselves! Can't you see what's happening? This place has tempted you. This is exactly what Coriakin was talking about. Edelle…"

"I've got it." She said as she stood right in front of Edmund and put both her hands on his face, backing him away slightly.

"Shh, love." She half-whispered in a soothing tone, her face merely two inches away from his "You need to calm down, okay? It's not you, it's just this place and the mist."

Her touch and the sound of her gentle voice swiftly returned Edmund back to his senses as he looked in her almost-pleading eyes. He already hated himself for letting her see him like this. That was a small part of him he desperately wished for her not to ever know.

"Oh god…I'm sorry, darling." He whispered with regret and an ashamed look in his eyes.

Edelle knew he was sorry, she could tell.

Lucy sighed "Let's just get out of here." She instantly headed to the rope that let upwards, Caspian shooting one last glance and Edmund, and then following after her.

As Edelle was sure Caspian and Lucy were around the corner, she leaned in and kissed him, comfortingly. Edmund felt thankful, she knew just what to do with him. Her warm lips against his always lured him away from all his troubles. He returned her kiss just as gently and lovingly and put on arm on her waist.

After a minute she pulled away from him "We need to get back."

He nodded and she smiled, taking his hand in hers and leading him to the rope.

**You know how much I love reviews, girls! Please make my day) **


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N. I was thinking here… Caspian didn't have a temptation-instead he just had a nightmare about his father not being proud of him. So I decided that Edelle will have a nightmare too. It just made more sense to me than all the temptations I tried picturing on her. Enjoy the chapter!)**

**Chapter 20.**

Once the four got up and out of the crater, they headed towards the boats to check on the sailors and what they had managed to gather so far.

"What food did you find?" Caspian asked as they advanced.

They looked over the baskets, which were at-best half full with some eatable plants and nuts.

Rhince shrugged "It's volcanic, Your Majesty-not much grows."

Lucy looked around "Where's Eustace?"

"I believe he is out, NOT helping us load the boats." Reepicheep said in a slightly annoyed tone. He and the Pevensies' cousin not quite hated each other…mutually disliked was more like it.

"Eustace!" Lucy shouted but no reply came. She tried shouting again, and Edelle, Edmund and Caspian turned their heads, looking around, trying to detect any form of movement or the quietest reply.

When they heard none Lucy turned to Edmund and Edelle "I've got a bad feeling." Her intuition never seemed to betray them, and perhaps that's what made Edmund sigh "I'll go and find him."

"I'll come with you." Edelle stated the obvious, and he wrapped one arm around her waist and they headed off.

"Wait, me too." Caspian said, catching up with them.

For countless minutes they walked around the volcanic land, calling for Eustace, but as before, they still got no reply.

Edelle looked all around, scanning the space "Eustace!...Hey, what's this?" she cocked an eyebrow, pointing to a large crevice in the land. The boys turned to where she was pointing and gaped slightly: the entire crevice was filled with gold, precious stones and treasure, forming somewhat of a golden river that led meters and meters away.

"Treasure." Edmund stated

"Trouble." Caspian corrected- he knew that in Narnia hardly anything is what it seems.

Then Edmund spotted something that looked like a burned shoe and the three jumped down into the crack. Edmund picked it up and examined it. Edelle gasped as recognition drooled over her.

"Eustace…" Edmund breathed out in shock and apprehension.

"It can't be…" Edelle shook her head in disbelief and then, just a foot away from her she spotted his diary and quickly picked it up, turning it in her hands. She slowly kneeled down, tears forming in her eyes and she hung her head. «How could we let it happen?» thoughts of guilt ran through her mind «It's all out fault…»

Edmund comfortingly wrapped one arm around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder.

Caspian kneeled beside them and looked sympathetically "I'm sorry."

Edmund slowly shook his head and took the diary from Edelle's hands "He was just a boy…I never should have left him."

They all looked down with grief.

"What could have happened to him?" Edmund asked and Caspian looked around "In this place? Anything."

He stood up and turned his gaze to a skeleton near the rocks "And he wasn't the first." He walked to it and studied the figure "It's Lord Octesium." He concluded "We should find his…" he looked at Edmund, who was picking the sword up from the pile of the deadly gold "…sword."

"Come on, love." Edmund took Edelle's hand and helped her up "We've got to get out of here."

She nodded her head, simply not being able to speak and let him lead her away.

As they walked back to the ship both Edelle's and Edmund's thoughts were practically the same «How are we gonna tell everyone? Aunt Alberta? Uncle Harold? Lucy? How would they explain, why there were five people to go exploring the Island, and four to come back? How could they go back to London without him? How could Aslan let that happen?...»

Suddenly, they were snatched out from their thoughts, as they heard a strange sound from not so far behind them. It sounded like roaring, but they couldn't clearly make out what could have made such a noise. Edelle shot Edmund a worried glance.

"Probably just the volcano." He assured her, though he, himself, wasn't so sure about it.

Caspian seemed to think about something and then his face turned serious and stern "I'm afraid not." He said.

The two looked at him questioningly "What?"

"We need to get to the ship, fast."

Just as he said the last word, the odd and rather intimidating sound dawned on them again, except, this time it sounded like it was mere feet away. They chaotically turned around and Edelle's eyes had grown huge, she felt like screaming, but she just couldn't, because that was the last thing she'd expected to see! There, flying right towards them, was an enormous brownish-golden skinned dragon-the source of the dreadful roaring noise. It all happened so fast, it took a few moments to comprehend what it was, but when she did, she turned around to find that Edmund was no longer beside her. The next thing she saw, was him firmly grasped in the dragon's claws, getting farther away with each passing second.

"EDMUND!" both she and Caspian screamed in terror, but could do nothing- he was already out of sight,

"No…Caspian!" Edelle turned to him, as if there was a way he could help. He put his hands on her shoulders in a shaky attempt to calm her down "Now, Edelle, it's not as bad as it looks. Dragons here rarely eat people; it's probably just taking him to its nest. We'll just have to find it and retrieve him. He'll be fine, he'll be fine!"

Edelle tried to believe him, honestly tried, but somehow it didn't make her feel any better."Well, let's go then!" she almost-shouted "If follow it now, we'll at least be able to see the area were the nest is!'

Caspian nodded "Yes, come on."

But just as they started running after the dragon, the roaring sounded closer again. Was it coming back? Apparently, yes. Their eyes widened even more as they saw the creature flying closer to them. Edelle and Caspian ducked swiftly, so it won't grab either of them, but in a moment, when no strike came, they slowly looked up. To their shock, and much to Edelle's relief, the dragon landed several feet away and let Edmund go, as he jumped from the grasp and walked to Edelle.

She looked completely bewildered as he advanced "Edmund? What's going…"

"That's Eustace" he cut her off, already knowing what her question will be.

"What?" she couldn't believe her ears, or her eyes. "How do you know? Did he tell you?" she asked in a slightly sarcastic manner.

He chuckled "No, but he, sort of, showed me. Just trust me- it is him."

"Wow…" was all she could say. She glanced at the dragon and it surprised her by giving a small nod. She finally smiled and looked back at Edmund "Don't you scare me like that again. I nearly fainted when it he grabbed you just a minute ago!"

Edmund smiled "Don't worry, I won't. Well…if I have something to say about it, that is." He leaned in to kiss her.

And then, just a moment before he could, he felt something burn his back, as he yelped "OW!" and jumped away. It wasn't bad enough to set him on fire, but bad enough to make him angrily turn around and shoot daggers at the new Eustace. Edelle also looked at him and noticed the change in his expression- if a dragon could smirk-that would be it.

She and Caspian chuckled "We need to tell the others. I'll go get them, and you stay here with him." He said and went away.

In several minutes Lucy, Rhince, Drinian, Reepicheep and the Minotaur joined the four. They figured out what happened, as Caspian mentioned "Anyone knows the dragon's treasure is enchanted. Well, anyone from here." They debated on what to do with the new…difficulty. They couldn't bring him on board, but they certainly couldn't just leave him here. It was decided that they stayed on the island for tonight and figure something out in the morning.

Thanks to Eustace's new ability of fire-breathing, all of them made themselves quite comfortable as they lay down. Edelle, as usual, snuggled to Edmund's side and he draped an arm around her and she looked up at him "Tell me something about the time when you and Peter and your sisters were here the longest."

"The Golden Age?" he asked. She nodded eagerly. He chuckled and told her about the time before Caspian was born…before Caspian's grandfather was born, when only the four of them were Kings and Queens. He told her about the hunts, the combat practices and the numerous balls Susan love to through on any occasion at all. He came to the part where he was about a year older than he is now, and the ladies on those balls were practically throwing himself at the "Young King": flirting with him, pretty much dragging him out to dance with them…

At this point Edelle propped herself up on one elbow "So in all the time you spent here, you didn't find yourself a queen? Ever?" she asked in a «Yeah, right.» tone.

He looked at her seriously "No. Not ever."

"Why?"

"They weren't you." He answered simply and pecked her on the lips. She smiled, thoroughly satisfied with his answer and leaned back down.

Then Edmund remembered the time when they first got here- the first several days. He sighed quietly, as his thoughts returned to what has been keeping him awake the previous night. And then he remembered something he wanted to ask Edelle for a while now.

"Edelle…" he began.

"Hmm?" she tilted her head to the side to look at him

"You never told me about your nightmare."

She tensed up slightly "That's because there's really not much to tell." In truth, Edelle was hoping he'd forgotten about the subject, but apparently, he didn't.

"It was bad enough to give you trouble sleeping." he said matter-of-factly and propped himself up on one elbow, looking down at her. "Come on, love, what was it about?"

She sighed, but couldn't resist his caring gaze "You." She answered simply.

"Me?" his eyebrows furrowed in confusion "Did something happen to me?"

She shook her head "No…something happened to us." She said in a solemn voice.

He sympathetically took her hand in his "What do you mean?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on her face the moment he touched her, but it quickly faded away, and she turned her gaze to the sky as she began explaining "I dreamt that we're back in London and everything is the way it is now: we're the same age, wearing the same clothes, but from the moment we came back from Narnia, you've changed. You were so cold to me…you didn't want to spend time with me anymore; avoided talking to me, you even avoided just seeing me. It was as if nothing ever happened between us." The last part came out in a somber almost-whisper and she looked back at Edmund.

The moment she finished speaking, he leaned down and gently kissed her several times in a comforting manner and then pulled back "You know that's never gonna happen." He put one hand on her face and softly caressed her cheek "You know I'll always love you more than my life."

She smiled adoringly "I know, and I feel the same. Oh well, I guess some dreams are just dreams."

He smiled too "Well, yours most definitely is. You went against all the rules for me; you gave me your heart...your body…" Surprisingly he didn't blush at the last words; apparently all inner modesty didn't work when you've already seen everything there is to see about the other person.

She looked at him amorously "I would give it to you again if it weren't for all the people around."

He grinned and kissed her again, this time with a lot more passion than before. Oh, if only they were alone right now...

But they weren't, and so Edelle delicately pushed against Edmund's chest before things get steamy.

He reluctantly parted from her "Goodnight, my love." He whispered against her lips and rolled on his back, pulling her with him, so she was snuggled to his side.

"Goodnight, Edmund." She replied and draped one arm around his neck, and within minutes they were both fast asleep.

**A huge thank you to all those who review- you really are making my days. Please don't stop doing so)**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N. Hey Everyone! Some people requested more steamy scenes from me and I cannot disappoint them) Especially since I was planning more of those anyway) Enjoy! *wink***

**Chapter 21.**

"Everybody! Everybody, wake up!"

Edelle opened her eyes and leaned up to see what the shouting was about. Lucy was getting up energetically waking everyone else, pointing somewhere in the sky. «For goodness sake! » she thought, annoyed «It's early dawn! I just wanted to sleep till six…» But then her gaze fell upon the exact object of Lucy's excitement- the Blue Star! Finally, they could see it! So, their whole journey wasn't pointless after all!

"Edmund, Ed, wake up!" she shook his shoulder and he slowly opened his eyes.

"What? What is it?" he stammered sleepily

"Look!" Edelle pointed to the star and Edmund's face instantly brightened up. He swiftly got up to his feet and helped her up too.

"It's there…" he breathed in wonder and smiled, pulling Edelle to him by the waist.

So, the morning started off fairly well, even if it was four a.m. Now that the Blue Star was finally in view, the sailors showed much more enthusiasm about the farther journey. They no longer thought this was their last trip; they had much more hope now…everyone did.

By the time they all got back to the ship, the sun had already risen and everyone was busily moving around the ship, each one doing their own thing. But it seemed that they just couldn't sail ONE day without any difficulties. At the present, it was the weather that has decided to give them a hard time. The further they sailed into the ocean, the less wind there seemed to be. Of course, wind was the essential part of any voyage, and if the weather kept this up, they might end up stopping in the middle of the ocean.

Edmund and Edelle were leaning against the bark of the ship, looking around all the buzzing on the deck.

"The wind has left." Drinian stated, walking past them.

"A little harder to get to Ramandu's Island now, then." Edmund sighed.

"It almost as if something doesn't want to get us there…" Drinian looked at him meaningfully and walked away.

Edmund looked at Edelle "See, there he goes again, about «the _something_».

She shrugged her shoulders "Well, he was right the other time." She said, obviously referring to the nightmares they've been having.

Edmund huffed and leaned back against the bark. Edelle chuckled, as she overheard some sailors talking about eating Eustace, if they ran out of food.

"Well, they might as well, if we don't reach la-OUGH!" Drinian's words were cut off, as the ship suddenly rocked forward, with such force, it knocked almost everyone off their feet.

"WOW!" Edelle let out a startled yelp, as she stumbled next to Edmund.

"Wow, indeed." He eyed her, looking as astonished as everyone "You okay?"

She nodded "Yeah." and looked around. "What on earth was that?" she asked, standing up.

"No idea…" Edmund said, as he got up too. Everyone on the deck was hastily turning their heads.

"What did we hit?" Drinian asked in a slightly panicked voice, as he stumbled back on his feet.

Edmund rushed to the bark and leaned over, then a huge smile appeared on his face

"Eustace! That's brilliant!" he shouted and Edelle sprang to his side.

Indeed, it was. Eustace had his tale wrapped around the nose of the ship, pulling it with him, as he was flying forward, using all his dragon strength.

Edelle smiled brightly "Way-ta-go, Eustace!" she shouted and clapped her hands, cheering, along with everyone else on the ship.

When everyone had calmed down, she suddenly felt Edmund's arms hug her shoulders from behind and his body pressed against hers. She tilted her head to him and smiled lovingly "Behave. We're on the deck, you know." She said in a fake-strict tone.

The response was a small groan of protest and the light brush of his lips against the back of her neck.

Edelle involuntary let out a quiet gasp. What was he doing? They were in on the deck, for crying out loud! Of course, everyone knew they were together, but that didn't mean they could start making out right there-in the open!

Edmund chuckled at the sound of her soft gasp

"Perhaps we should move somewhere a bit more…private, don't you think?" he whispered in her hair.

Edelle gave him a mischievous look "Having naughty thoughts, Your Majesty?"

Somehow, hearing her call him by his title served to arouse him more than he expected.

"Oh, you have no idea, my love…"

She laughed.

*************ten minutes later*************

The door loudly slammed shut behind them. Edmund's lips were pressed firmly, possessively against hers, his hands holding her face, not leaving her a single chance to turn away. Not that she minded…

Her hands were slowly sliding down his body, until she reached his belt and rapidly untucked his shirt.

Edmund groaned as he felt his shirt being unbuttoned and thrown off his body and he reached his hands to the back of her dress and skilfully unzipped it, letting it fall away.

She gasped and they pulled apart for a moment. They gazed amorously in each other's eyes and she stepped out of her dress, remaining in only her underwear. Edelle eyed his strong chest and pressed one hand against his washboard-like abdomen, her other hand reaching behind his neck and almost yanking his head in for another passionate kiss. Last night it took all they had to restrain themselves, but right now, nothing was in their way and they will fulfil their uncontrollable desire for one-another.

Edmund let out a growl at her unexpected roughness, and guessed that last night's tension was just as unbearable for her, as it was for him. They had to have each other, and they both knew it.

He grasped her waist and started backing them up against his bed. Edelle willingly let him take the lead and stumbled on the bed as she felt the back of her knees meet its side, pulling him down with her.

He once again reached behind her back and parted from the kiss, looking at her questioningly and nearly desperately.

She couldn't help but smile at his chivalry- even if it wasn't their first time, he was still asking for permission. She quickly nodded her head and instantly felt the clasp of her bra coming undone.

Edmund slid the thing off her body and tossed it away, his eyes taking in the sight of her almost naked form. He reached one hand to gently caress the side of her breast and when he heard her quietly moan in pleasure at his touch, he practically thrown himself at her. He wrapped his arms tightly around her middle and they both groaned at the contact of their bare flesh. Then Edelle grasped his head in her hands and pulled it in for another needful kiss, as she felt him easing them both to lie down, her ending up beneath him.

His hands then slowly, but confidently slid down her body, over the already-familiar sweet curves, until he reached the band of her underwear. His eyes once more met hers and instead of nodding, she kissed him forcefully, giving him all the consent he wanted.

Finally he rid them both of the last bit of her and his clothing that was in the way. He carefully positioned himself at her opening and gently, but firmly pushed inside.

Edelle let out a moan of extreme pleasure as she felt Edmund filling her. Since all the discomfort from their first time had subsided, she'd found herself yearning for them to be alone once again as soon as possible. And by the way he rushed them to his bedroom the first chance he got; she could tell he felt it too.

They both groaned as he pulled out and thrust back in, and then repeated his motion. Edelle felt like this time was even better, since she now felt only pleasure and no pain at all.

"Faster…" she breathed and he readily complied.

Each thrust became more powerful than the last, and the speed was going higher up with each passing minute.

Even though this was the second time, Edmund still couldn't believe how incredible it felt. Not only the physical pleasure, but also the feeling of being emotionally as close to her as possible.

His thrusts gained even more power and speed, and she was moaning uncontrollably from the unbearable pleasure of their closeness.

Finally, Edmund felt himself letting go

"Love, I'm not going to last…" he warned in a groaning voice.

"Me neither…" she breathed feverishly and, as he gave his final thrusts, they felt the world exploding around them as waves of unspeakable pleasure coursed through their bodies.

In a few minutes, as they felt their breathing returning back to normal, Edmund rolled off of her, as always, pulling her with him.

She slid her arm around his neck and snuggled to his side, feeling his whole body resting against her and listening to his racing heart, which was slowly returning back to normal.

"I love you so much…" he said, kissing her forehead and wrapping his arm tightly around her.

"As I love you, Edmund." She leaned up a bit to kiss his neck and then lay back down on his chest.

It was still mid-day, so they would have to get out soon, but right now they just wanted to rest in the feeling of being together like this again, even if only for a few minutes.

**You know how much I love the "R" word, girls) Please tell me what you think! Again, a HUGE thank you to my lovely reviewers! *loves***


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N. So sorry it took so long! I was out of town, at my country house, which was awesome by the way) Enjoy the new chapter!**

**Chapter 22.**

Edmund and Edelle walked upstairs to the upper deck-the sailors were still buzzing around, no one even seemed to notice their absence. 'Good.' they both thought. The last thing they wanted, was for the whole crew to start giving them dirty glances.

They approached Lucy, who was side-leaning against the bark.

"Edmund, is there a time of the day…or night, when your arm isn't around her waist?" Lucy said, sarcasm evident in her voice.

Edelle laughed "Don't think so, Lu. I'm kinda used to it by now, though."

"Not that you don't like it." Edmund grinned and pecked her on the lips.

"Oh, please, not in front of me!" Lucy moaned, her hand covering her eyes.

They laughed and turned their eyes to Eustace, who was busily pulling the ship with his tale. Edelle looked at him with admiration 'It's amazing how a change in your appearance can change who you are' she thought. To think about it, a week ago he would've rather had his diary taken away from him, than to even think of helping them. A week ago, if someone told him he was going to be pulling the Dawn Treader with his _dragon_ tale, he would have called them insane and threaten to call the asylum. But there he was. Edelle sighed hopefully- maybe he_ has_ changed…or maybe he never was a snob in the first place.

"LAND AHOY!"

The three swiftly turned their heads to the ocean and smiles instantly illuminated their faces, as they saw it in the near horizon.

Edelle glanced at Edmund "Is that Ramandu's Island?"

He smiled even brighter "It is, love. We're here."

The ship sailed gracefully towards the Island, getting closer and closer with each passing minute. Finally, when the sun was beginning to go down, their destination was close enough for them to port.

Eustace let go of the nose of the ship, and Reepicheep shouted with glee "You got us there! What did I tell you, Eustace? Extraordinary, EXTRAORDINARY!"

The sailors got the boats down and soon everyone was floating towards Ramandu's Island. The sun has already set by the time they got to the shore; they looked around the land and started walking through it. Edelle chuckled at the confusion on all the sailor's faces when Edmund pulled out his torch and lit up their way.

After quite some time of walking they reached something that looked like a hall, except in was in the open air. They passed several griffon sculptures until they came close to an arch, which was made of tree's roots. Edmund walked through it first and the rest followed after him. There, in the middle of the woods, was a large table, food and drinks covering every inch of the surface.

Edmund illuminated it with his torch and suspiciously looked over it, walking by. The Minotaur reached out to take something, but Drinian halted him. Edmund turned the light to the end of the table, and Lucy gasped, Edelle flinched, and the men snatched out their swords: sitting there were three old men. Their beards have grown so long, they ended on the table. The men's clothes were all filthy and entwined in tree branches and cobwebs- the men didn't look very alive. Their eyes were open, but none of them moved.

Caspian looked at the men's hands and recognised the rings on them.

"Lord Revellion…" he looked at the other one "Lord Mathomore…Lord Argos" he concluded as he eyed the third man.

Just then Lucy reached out and moved several strands of grey hair out of one man's face and sharply backed away as she felt movement.

Caspian leaned down to take a look "He's breathing." He stated.

"So are they!" Edmund pointed to the other two. "They're under a spell…"

Caspian looked over the table "It's the food!" he shouted, as several sailors dropped he food they've already taken a bite of.

"Hey, it's the stone knife." Edmund pointed "This is Aslan's table."

"Aslan's table? We have to lay down the swords then." Edelle said and pulled Edmund's sword out of its confines, laying it on the table.

Caspian took the rest of the lord's swords out, and laid them down on top of each other.

"That's six" Edmund said "We're still missing one."

Edelle furrowed her eyebrows "So, nothing's going to happen now?"

And just as the words left her mouth, the swords on the table began to glow a blue light.

" 'Nothing' never happens in Narnia, it's always something." Edmund said.

"Look!" Lucy pointed to the sky, and everyone looked up and saw the Blue Star making its way down. It slowly descended from the sky and landed merely two meters away from the table. The glowing gradually subsided and the star took the form of a young woman in her early twenties.

"Travellers of Narnia, welcome." She said and all the men, except Edmund and Caspian bowed respectfully.

"Arise." She gestured and looked questioningly at the crew "Are you not hungry?"

"Who are you?" Edmund asked.

"I'm Lilliandil-daughter of Ramandu. I am your guide." She smiled.

Caspian looked over here in wonder "You're a star?"

She nodded.

"You are most beautiful." He complemented in an awestruck voice.

The star's expression turned concerned "If it is a distraction for you, I can change form…"

"No!" he cut her off, sounding almost commandive.

Edmund snorted and pulled Edelle to him. She chuckled at both: Caspian's interaction with the star and Edmund's 'Well, I've already got a girlfriend" move.

"The food is for you." Lilliandil continued and lit the candles on the table with a movement of her hands "There is enough for all who made it to Aslan's table, always. Help yourselves!" she encouraged the sailors.

"Wait!" Edmund interfered "What happened to them?" he pointed to the three Lords at the back.

"These poor men were half-mad by the time they reached our shores." she explained "They were threatening violence upon each other…violence is forbidden at the table of Aslan, so they were sent to sleep."

Lucy felt sorry for the men "Will they ever wake?" she asked and Edelle also looked concerned- if the Lords weren't in their right minds when they reached here, it wasn't really their faults they were saying such things. Surely, they didn't deserve to stay living statues till the end of days!

The star smiled "When all is put right. Come, there's little time." She eyed Caspian, Lucy, Edmund and Edelle and led them away from the table into the depths of the woods.

**Please don't forget to review, girls! Love you all!)**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23.**

The star led them through the woods until they reached something that looked like a balcony, if they were in a castle.

"The magician, Coriakin told you about the Dark Island" she said, as they approached the edge of the balcony and looked at what was waiting for them.

The entire island was coated with grey-black heavy clouds, the green mist blocking all land from view. The place was almost radiating evilness.

"For long the evil will be unstoppable." Liliandil said gloomily.

Caspian half-turned to her "Coriakin said to break its spell, we need to lay the seven swords at Aslan's table."

"He speaks the truth." She nodded and sadly looked back at the Island, her expression clearly reflecting the sadness she felt from such a thing invading their land.

"But we only found six." Edmund said. "Do you know where the seventh is?"

Everyone looked at her intently, waiting for the answer.

The star lowered her gaze for a moment "In there." She said and pointed right to the evil-radiating Island. "You'll need great courage."

Edelle leaned in and whispered to Edmund "Easy for her to say, she's a star!"

Then she bit her lip, realising her whisper wasn't quiet enough, and their guide heard her.

Liliandil half-smiled "I believe in you." She turned, so that everyone was facing her, as her smile faded, momentarily being replaced by seriousness. "Now waste no time." She said sternly.

Caspian eyed her up and down; if it was the last time he saw her, he at least had one last look. "I hope we meet again." He said.

She smiled at him promisingly "Goodbye." And with that, they saw bright light surrounding her, as she turned back into a big glowing sphere and shot into the sky, taking her place as the Blue Star.

Soon they all boarded the Dawn Treader again and advanced the Dark Island, Eustace hovering above the ship.

The Minotaur looked at their destination "What do you think could be out there?" he asked.

"Our worst nightmares." Edmund said and caught Edelle's meaningful glance. They had an idea, they were about to face what was making them wake up in cold sweat for many nights.

"Our darkest wishes." Caspian said.

"Pure evil." Drinian stated his opinion, describing everyone's versions in two words. "Men! Prepare yourselves!" he shouted, so all the sailors could hear him.

Caspian watched as the crew started fumbling around, looking for armour "Let's get ready." He said and walked away, heading his cabin.

Edmund tuned to Edelle and put his hands on her upper arms, looking her in the eyes "Go with Lucy, she'll help you put your armour on. I'll go take care of mine and meet you here, okay?"

"Okay." She said.

He quickly kissed her forehead and let go of her, following Caspian.

Edelle turned to Lucy, who motioned for them to go. Several minutes later they were already in her cabin. Lucy pulled the body protection over her head and did the clasps on the sides. Edelle stood up from the bed and went around her, helping with the straps at the back.

"You scared?" Edelle asked, obviously meaning the green mist they were about to face. Lucy never told if something was troubling her. 'IF?' she scolded herself 'There is no if. Of course something was disturbing her too, just like everybody else'. And now she kind of felt guilty for not even bothering to ask.

"No, not really." Lucy shrugged her shoulders and turned around, helping Edelle put on her chest and body protection. "I'm over my temptation." She said, fumbling with the belts.

"Oh really?" Edelle cocked and eyebrow. "Care to share?"

"Well…" Lucy grimaced.

"Come ooon.." Edelle dragged.

"Oh, alright!" she gave up "I wanted to look like Susan, okay?"

"What? Seriously, Lucy?" Edelle couldn't believe it, of all the temptations…of all the beautiful women! "For the hundredth time, you look great! Trust me, there are a lot of girls that would kill for your looks!"

"Hey, I told you before." Lucy said, defensively "Remember, in London, when we were looking at our family pictures?"

Yes, she remembered. It was a week or so after they met, Lucy took out several pictures she brought with her to Cambridge. One of them showed Lucy and Susan at some tea party. Edelle remembered thinking that Susan was definitely pretty, but nothing so special for Lucy to want to look exactly the same. Not to mention, she was a little too hard on her make-up: the bright red lipstick was definitely not designed for young ladies of her age.

"It was already then I told you I thought she was beautiful." At the last word Lucy pulled a little too roughly on one of Edelle's straps.

"YOW!" she yelped

"Sorry." Lucy smiled sheepishly.

She shook her head "So what made you change your mind?"

"Aslan." She answered simply.

Edelle didn't say anything. She's been told by both: Lucy and Edmund- that Aslan works in mysterious ways. She remembered saying "He has style." which made them giggle.

"But do you still think you're not pretty enough?"

Lucy shrugged. Edelle sighed heavily 'Fine, think that, for NOW. We will get back to this.' she thought.

"Well…" she started, as the last strap was finally done. "I guess, I just have one last question then."

"Yes?" Lucy looked at her attentively.

She grinned "Does this stuff make me look fat?"

Lucy slapped her arm playfully and the girls laughed for several moments. They did one final check that everything was in place and properly fastened, and headed back to the upper deck.

**A/N. Sorry I didn't get to the Island part today, but I couldn't fit it all in here- I didn't want it to be a ginormous chapter. Hope you liked it anyway and please continue with the reviewing, my honeys) **

**xoxoxo for now.**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N. Yes, I do realize how long it's been and I feel terrible for making you wait all this time! It's that I just entered my senior year and too much is going on in my life right now. Plus, I only got my computer back three days ago. **

**Okay, hope I still have my readers, and without further ado-here's the new chapter!)**

**Chapter 24.**

When Edelle and Lucy made it to the upper deck, everyone was already there, listening to Caspian. He was standing in front of the crew, giving one last inspirational speech, before they entered the abyss of the Dark Island.

"No matter what happens here, every soul, who stands before me, has earned their place on the crew of the Dawn Treader. Together we have travelled far, together we had faced adversity, together we can do it again."

Edelle made her way to Edmund's side and also lifted her gaze to Caspian. The determination and resolve in the way he spoke just made everyone want to follow him to whatever awaited.

"So now is not the time to fall to fierce temptations. Be strong, never give in!" he said.

From the corner of her eye she saw Edmund give a hardly-noticeable nod, which made her wonder if there was a temptation she didn't know about.

"Our world, our narnian lives depend on it." Caspian continued "Think of the lost souls we're here to save."

At that many eyes landed on , whose main reason for joining them was his lost wife.

"Think of Aslan. Think of Narnia." He finished and, as he went down the stairs, some sailor's cry "FOR NARNIA!" had erupted a whole wave of determined cries, which echoed through the entire Island.

Caspian smiled, proud of his brave and supportive crew and friends.

With each passing second they were closer to the evil cave on sea, and finally, the ship was slowly coated by blackish-grey mist, as they advanced into the darkness. And almost instantly, the grey mist changed color, and became the green one. The one they should fear the most.

Edelle felt slightly sick as it came closer, it had quite a revolting smell- the body-shivering mix of rotten soil and something she couldn't name, but what could only be described as evil. She glanced at Edmund, but his face was frozen, as if he was using every ounce of his strength to concentrate on staying in his right mind.

As the mist hovered over some sailors, she could swear she saw some of them smiling at something and looking at the mist in front of them, as if seeing something only they could see. Some were smiling and looked positively hypnotized, while some, on the contrary, looked somewhat frightened.

"Can't see a thing." Edelle vaguely heard Drinian's hoarse voice, which was considerably muffled by the strange moaning sound the mist was making. "The fog's too thick."

"_Hey, Edelle!"_

She heard Edmund's voice from her right side. "That's funny." She thought "I could swear he was standing on my left."

"Yes?"

"_Enjoy my company while you still can."_

"What?" she rapidly turned her head to her right and saw his form in the mist.

"_You heard me."_ He chuckled "_Do you really think I would be with you when we're back in England?"_

At that moment she realized what was going on. Somehow, she didn't notice herself slowly shifting away from the real Edmund and now she was facing his misty impersonation-her worst nightmare.

"Get out of my face." She said sternly "You're not real."

"_Aren't I?_" the figure laughed "_Is there a reason for me to stay? I already got what I wanted from you. Twice."_

Even though she knew this was just the mist terrorizing her, hearing those words coming out of his mouth, in his voice, still hurt like hell.

"GO AWAY!" she shouted and flung her sword in its direction.

"Edelle!"

Just then she felt the real Edmund shake her shoulder, looking troubled himself. He'd just been snapped out of his own nightmare by Lucy.

"You alright?" he asked in a gentle voice.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Fine, yeah."

Suddenly they all heard a man's cry from outside the ship, which was very surprising, since they didn't expect to find any people here.

They quickly walked to the barks of the ship and started looking around, trying to figure out the source of the voice. It was clear that they were getting closer to it, because now they could make out the words the voice wailed.

"KEEP AWAY!" it screamed, sounding as if it was mere feet away. Unfortunately, it was too dark and misty for them to see a thing, so Edmund took out his flashlight and focused the light on a rock-reef, considerably sticking out from under the water.

In the light, they saw an old man with a long beard, dressed in rags and looking quite insane.

"KEEP AWAY!" he shouted madly.

"We will not leave!" Caspian said.

"Caspian, his sword!" Edmund exclaimed. Indeed, the sword the mad man was holding was one of the seven. The last one they needed to get.

"Lord Roop!" Caspian recognized him "Don't shoot!" he told the crewmen. "Get him on board!"

The men started spinning around ropes, getting ready to throw them, when a huge dragon unexpectedly grabbed the lost lord and, in a second, carefully landed him already on the ship's deck.

Edelle grinned "I was beginning to wonder if he's still with us." She thought.

The man instantly sprang to his feet, aiming his sword on the men around him. "GET AWAY, DEMONS!"

"My Lord, we will not harm you." Caspian tried to calm him down. "I am your king, Caspian."

At that, the lord visibly tensed and turned around, studying Caspian for a minute.

"C-Caspian?" he stuttered "My Lord…you shouldn't have come! There is no getting out of here!" he turned to face the crew "Quickly! Turn around before it's too late!"

"We have the sword, let's go!" Edmund said.

Caspian nodded "Turn around, Drinian!"

"Aye, Your Majesty."

Just when Caspian turned around the man shouted again "DON'T THINK! Don't let it know your fears, or it will become them!" he quivered.

Suddenly Edmund shut his eyes tightly "Oh, no." he said and all pairs of eyes landed on him.

"Edmund, what did you just think of?" Lucy cried.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Edmund uttered and rushed to the bark of the ship.

Edelle threw her head back "Just great!" she groaned and followed him to the bark.

They leaned over and watched in bewilderment and dismay, as the reefs above the water slowly disappeared in its depths. Pretty much like a giant serpent…

**So, as you can see, this story is nearing its end. *sniff* I'm not sure if it's gonna be one or two more chapters…two, I think..but anyway, hope you liked this chapter and please let me know if you did! Love you all***


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Suddenly the ship rocked violently, knocking everyone down, as if it was hit by something very huge. Edmund grabbed Edelle's hand, quickly pulling her up and they rushed to the bark to try and see what they've gotten themselves into.

"It's gone under the ship!" Caspian said in a troubled voice.

Some sailors went to the opposite bark, and just then Lucy screamed. The sound made everyone turn around rapidly, and when they did, they saw it. An enormous serpent-like beast shot out of the water and showed itself to the Dawn Treader crew.

Even though it was an underwater thing, it still looked like it was covered with slime and abscesses; it opened its jaws and let out a loud chilling noise, which sounded like a cross between wailing and hissing.

For a moment sailors stared in astonishment, facing a beast like that for the first time in their lives. The thing got closer to the ship, and Edmund, Edelle and Caspian took out their swords, while everyone else aimed at it with crossbows.

Suddenly, a torrent of fire hit the monster, forcing it to the side with a blood-curling howl. Eustace attacked it fiercely, clawing it, clinging to its head, while the thing tried hard to throw him off. It was obviously much stronger, so within a minute Eustace was sent flying to the side, but he quickly regained his composure and charged again. The beast caught him in mid-air and drawn under water, but before he could drown, it resurfaced again. Eustace was still in its jaws, but not for long. The monster gave a rough jerk with its head and thrown him square on a nearby rock, leaving him barely conscious from the hit. As it advanced him, intending to finish this, Eustace breathed another torrent of fire right into its snout, setting the beast on fire. It wailed loudly, as it fell into the water, the fire going out before it could do any serious harm, so it wouldn't be long until the thing attacked again.

"AWAY, BEAST!" yelled the mad lord, pushing the sailors aside, and throwing his sword at Eustace, hitting him right in the shoulder.

"NOT THE SWORD!" Caspian yelled

"EUSTACE!"

"NO!" Lucy and Edelle screamed as the injured dragon lifted himself off the rock and flew away, out of their sight.

"NO, COME BACK!" Lucy screamed after him.

The mad lord ran to the spinning wheel in attempt to turn the ship around, but Drinian was fast enough to punch him in the face, knocking him out.

"About time someone did that!" Edelle thought menacingly.

"CREW! On your positions!" the captain ordered, and the sailors hurried to oblige.

Just then, the giant serpent shot out of the water again, this time going over the ship, making everyone run in different directions and breaking a bark on its way. Then it came around the second time. To everyone's horror-it now wind itself around the ship, rocking it terribly, cracking it in some parts, water splashing all over the place.

"ED! ED!" Caspian called, eyeing a pointy rock near them, an idea evident in his eyes. "WE'RE GONNA SMASH IT ON THAT ROCK."

Edmund nodded, getting the idea "I'LL DISTRACT IT!" he shouted back and almost dashed away, when Edelle grabbed his arm.

"ARE YOU INSANE? THIS IS SUICIDE-IT'S GONNA KILL YOU!" she shouted, panicked at the thought.

He clutched her shoulders "IT WILL NOT! I'LL JUST DISTRACT IT, TRUST ME!"

"BUT HOW ARE YOU…"

Her question was cut off, as Edmund clashed his mouth onto hers, kissing her roughly. It was like he kissed her for the last time, but as soon as the thought came to her mind, she hated it.

He pulled away and looked into her eyes "I'll be fine, and when I'm back, you better be to!" he let go of her and rushed away.

Edelle quickly wiped away a single tear that managed to escape her eyes and tried to calm down. "Of course he'll be fine, it's not like it's his first time in Narnia. He's probably been through worse." She reassured herself, but then the beast hovered above the ship once again, dangerously close to where she was standing, reminding Edelle of her priorities at the precise moment.

She swiftly snatched out her sword and did the first thing that came to her mind-she stabbed the giant snake on the side, as it slithered by. The beast let out a wail of pain, and as Edelle pulled her sword back, her eyes narrowed at the sight of the green mist coating it. She looked at the wound she left and saw mist coming out of it too. So it wasn't even a real monster! And, most importantly, it could be destroyed!

Edmund ran to the nose of the ship, took out his flashlight, lit it and aimed the light in the monster's eyes, taunting it all the while.

"COME GET ME! I'M RIGHT HERE!" he shouted and the beast lashed forward, towards him, and slammed against the place where he'd been standing. From afar, it looked like Edmund was in its mouth.

"EDMUND!" Edelle and Lucy shouted, terrified for him.

The monster pulled back and they exhaled in relief, when they saw him still very much alive.

It was so distracted by Edmund's taunting, it didn't notice its back nearing that big rock, as the ship charged forward, making the serpent back away even more.

At that moment Lucy shot an arrow with Susan's bow, and hit the monster straight in the eye, blinding it, until finally, there was no more space left between the monster and the rock, as the thing was smashed into it by the ship.

The crash caused Edmund to fall from his place all the way down on the deck, the fall knocking him unconscious.

Edelle immediately rushed to his side, shaking him, trying to wake him up.

As the ship backed away from the monster, everyone was mortified to see that all their efforts to smash it where useless-the motion didn't seem to affect the serpent at all. In fact, the only thing they had accomplished, is making it even angrier.

**Okay, that's it for now. Please don't hate me for making you wait again. It's just that…urgh…you have NO idea what it's like to have no network whatsoever. I don't have it at home (technical difficulties), I no longer have it at school, as some evil genius downloaded some lethal virus and clashed all the computers…the very fact that I'm able to update today is a miracle-my dad took me to his work and took me to the public computers. So, yeah, here's the update, which I had written LONG AGO, just had no chance to post it(**

**Pleeeeeeeeease review! The next chapter is the last one and I reeeeally want to reach 200 reviews by the time I end this. Thank you!)**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

As the ship backed away from the giant rock, the serpent let out another series of blood-curling screams and charged at it. When it got closer, the monster's body began to glow a yellow-green light, which eventually enveloped the thing like a cocoon.

On the ship, Caspian had helped Edmund up, and Edelle refastened Lucy's body protection, which came undone some time ago.

When they looked up, they saw that the monster had opened up its cocoon like a cape, and was now twice as large and intimidating. It was hissing and wailing and threateningly shaking its hundreds of spikes.

"MOVE!" Caspian shouted to Edmund, and the next minute the beast shot its head to the place he was standing. Luckily, Caspian was quick enough to push him aside from the attack.

"TAKE THAT, SIREN!" Edelle shouted and hastily chopped off a good dozen of the smaller spikes in a single swing of her sword.

The bits fell down and dissolved in the air.

Caspian and Edmund stared down at the place the spikes had just been

"It could be killed." Caspian reasoned.

Just then, Edmund saw the monster's head furiously shooting down towards Edelle, who had turned around a moment before to check on Lucy. Not wasting a second, he rushed to her, grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the way. Just in time- a second later the monster clashed into the deck, sending shards of wood flying everywhere.

"I owe you one." Edelle exhaled, a bit stunned from almost being smashed.

Meanwhile the monster was biting off pieces of the ship's struts and sails.

"I'll get it closer." Edmund said and ran up to the mast.

"PREPARE THE HARPOONS!" Caspian shouted, as Drinian tried his best to control the sailors.

Edmund skilfully jumped on a rope and swung to the nearest beam, starting to climb upwards.

"READY!" Caspian shouted "NOW!" And all the sailors, including Lucy and Edelle threw their harpoons towards the beast as hard as they physically could. Most of them hit the serpent and it started hastily moving around, trying to get them off of its body. The sailors grasped tightly the ropes attached to their harpoons and pulled them down with all their force, effectively distracting the beast, as Edmund was reaching the mast.

Once he was there, however, Caspian and the sailors had pulled the beast to a very unfortunate angle, forcing it to toss right to the place Edmund was standing, making him have to jump away, almost stumbling down.

As soon as he was back firmly on his feet, he heard a familiar misty voice to his side

"…Edmund…What are you trying to prove?...That you're a man?" the White Witch questioned, rather sceptically.

Even though he knew it was just the evil mist trying to confuse him, Edmund still found himself unable to say anything, or even think clearly. He just stood there numbly, captivatedly staring at the figure.

"I can make you that..I can make you my king…" the witch chanted.

From the bottom deck, Edelle looked up at the mast, only to find Edmund staring into the mist, as if hypnotized. «Oh, no» she thought

"EDMUND! SNAP OUT OF IT!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"…Come on..take my hand." The witch said, reaching out.

At that moment Edmund's thought were hazy and blurred, he didn't even know why he was listening to the misty figure of his old enemy. Let alone, why was he actually considering lowering his sword? It was as if some magical force was corrupting his mind. All the other noises seemed faint and far-away…

"Just give in…" the witch half-whispered.

"Edmund…EDMUND, GET A GRIP!" he heard another female voice somewhere from below. _Edelle_…he thought…And then he felt his mind magically being shaken out of the trance, returning him to his senses.

_I am a man. And I am a King!_ He thought, and that moment the sword he was holding started to glow a bright blue light, beckoning to be put in action.

The witch's figure nervously glanced down at it

"COME ON!" Caspian shouted and Edmund turned around to come face to face with the giant serpent.

He valiantly pointed the sword at the beast, the bright blue light taunting its eyes. The monster opened its jaws and lashed towards Edmund, attempting to swallow him whole. But wasn't quick enough to close its jaws, as Edmund's sword pierced through its throat, sending waves of electric currents through the entire body, and making the White Witch cry out and disappear.

Edmund pulled out the sword and looked at the beast: it rapidly tossed back, the powerful currents visibly flowing through it, and in several moments it was over. The serpent fell backwards into the water and slowly disappeared in its depths, never to rise again.

At that point, the dark clouds in the sky had miraculously begun to melt away, being replaced by the sunlight piercing through them, symbolizing the defeat of the dark forces.

Lucy looked at the dissolving rocks and stone walls, instead seeing something amazing approaching them.

"Edmund, Edelle, Caspian!" she called out and they all looked around, astounded by the evil's retreat and breathing out in relief. They had stood through it and attained victory.

"Narnians!" Caspian exclaimed, as he saw the dozens of boats swimming in approach to the Dawn Treader.

Everyone clapped at the sight of all the rescued people.

"ELAINE!" Mr. Rhince cried in elation, as he saw his wife in one of the boats. Instantly he jumped into the water and swam his way to her.

Edelle laughed good-heartedly at the scene, and Edmund smiled, standing between her and Lucy, putting his arms around the girls' shoulders.

"Get them aboard!" Caspian told the sailors and came up to the three.

They turned to him.

"We did it!" Lucy said, sounding quite surprised.

"And there was you, thinking we wouldn't." Edelle teased, a playful smirk on her face.

"It wasn't just us, though." Edmund corrected, thinking about their fire-breathing companion.

"You mean…?" Caspian started and just then they heard a familiar voice from the water.

"HEY! I'M OVER HERE! I'M IN THE WATER, LUCY! I'M A BOY AGAIN!"

They sprinted to the opposite deck and bent over, to find a very human Eustace thrashing about in the water.

"I'M A BOY AGAIN!" he cried in delight.

"Eustace!" Reepicheep appeared from behind them "I see your wings have been clipped!" he joked and jumped in the water, swimming towards his new friend.

The girls chuckled, as the noble mouse started to sing his song

"_Where the sky and water meet, where the waves grow ever sweet_…" then some water accidentally got into his mouth. "It's sweet…It's sweet!" he announced in amazement.

"Look, look!" he pointed to the horizon, and they all saw the clear water several yards away disappearing under a linen of floating white flowers.

"Aslan's country." Caspian stated "We must be close."

"Well, we've come this far." Edmund said and soon the five of them were down on a boat, swimming through the snow-white flowers.

"So how was it, when Aslan changed you back?" Edmund asked.

"No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't do it myself. Then he came towards me. It sort of hurt but…it was a good pain. You know, like when you pull a thorn from your foot. Being a dragon wasn't all bad…" he said and Edelle and Lucy looked up at him, intrigued. "I mean, I was a better dragon then I was a boy really. I'm sorry for being such a sob." He said and looked down in embarrassment.

Everyone could tell he really did mean it.

"It's okay, Eustace." Edmund smiled "You were a pretty good dragon."

Edelle beamed, fondling a flower she picked from the water "Yeah, even though you burnt his butt."

They all laughed and didn't notice as they slowly approached the land.

"My friends, we have arrived." Reepicheep announced as they turned their heads

The land was not big, with nothing on it but sandy shore and a huge vertical wave along it, as if it was shielding something from everyone's eyes.

Finally the boat hit the shore, and the five young people and a mouse stepped out and walked forward, advancing the wave.

As they walked, another shadow joined the five of theirs. The shadow of a lion.

**A/N. I know I said this chapter would be the last. But while I was actually writing it, I realised that I was only halfway there, and it was already more than 1700 words, so I decided to split it in two. The next one is definitely the last, though.**

**By the way, it was my birthday a couple of days ago, so for my present I would like reviews from as much of you, my lovely readers, as possible. Come on, I know you can do it)**


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N. Wow, can you believe that we're actually here? We made it! I made it…an entire book done in less than a year! I must be pretty good, or, as Nicky Minaj would say, "IMAMOTHERF*CKING MONSTA!" Just kidding) But seriously, this has been a long and amazing way. I really hope you enjoyed the story, and I'm really grateful to my amazing readers and reviewers! Forbidden Fruit turned out just as I wanted it to, and I couldn't have done it without you and your kind words. So, thank you, all of you!**

**I am thinking about a sequel, about Edmund and Edelle and how they actually face the consequences, along with Lucy, Eustace, Peter, Susan, The Pevensie parents, The Scrubbs and The Gilberts. But I can't start writing it, not knowing what my readers think, so if you DO want a sequel, and if there is something specific you would like to see, please let me know in your review! **

**I still can't believe that I'm about to press the "complete" button. But I am, and, without further ado, I present to you the last chapter of FFTS. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 27**

"Aslan?" Eustace was the first one to notice him, and the rest quickly turned their heads in the direction he was looking.

"Welcome, children." The lion spoke in a strong but gentle voice "You have done well, very well indeed. You have come far, and now your journey is at its end."

Lucy looked around "Is this your country?"

"No, my country lies beyond." He answered and motioned to the space hidden from them by the height of the wave.

"Is my father in your country?" Caspian asked.

"You can only find that out for yourself. But you should know that if you continue, there is no return."

Caspian eyed the wave and gradually approached it. He extended his hand and ran his fingers through the water. It looked like he was about to step through, but after a moment, he stood back and turned around.

"You're not going?" Edmund asked, puzzled. After all, this was Caspian's main purpose of the whole journey-to find out about his father.

"I doubt my father would be very proud if I gave up what he died for. I spent to long wanting what was taken from me and not what was given. I was given a kingdom." He took a few devoted steps towards Aslan "I promise to be a better king."

The Lion smiled "You already are." And at that moment Caspian knew he had made the right choice.

"Children." He addressed the four, waiting for one of them to speak up.

"I think it's about time we went home, actually, Lu." Edmund said, as he knew his sister was the one to be closer to Narnia than anyone else.

Lucy looked at him confused "But I thought you loved it here."

"I do, but I love home and our family as well. They need us."

Lucy looked down sadly, knowing her brother was right, no matter how hard it was to admit it.

Edelle sighed "And to think, staying would have saved us so much trouble." She looked at Edmund, sure he would understand what she meant. Their eyes met, and he gently pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her.

Her arms came around his shoulders and from the corner of her eye she saw Eustace averting his gaze to the ground, looking quite defeated.

She let go of Edmund and stepped to him "Eustace, I…"

"It's alright." He cut her off in a surprisingly calm and understanding tone "As long as you're happy, I'll be alright too."

She slightly shook her head, bewildered by his very new reaction "But what about the whole 'marriage thing'?"

"We'll figure something out." He looked down, and then after a minute of sombre silence, he carefully took her hand and looked her in the eyes "Edelle, you're still my best friend, and I'll always love you."

She felt tears build up in her eyes as she smiled warmly "Thank you."

It was all she could say, but she knew she was able to put all the gratitude and all the emotion into it. Knowing that he accepted it, no matter how much it hurt, meant a lot to her. It was like he had just taken an enormous heap of guilt off her shoulders. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek with all the compassion she could muster.

She backed away and Eustace gave her a kind smile and then turned his eyes to Edmund, and his gaze stiffened up a bit

"You better make her happier than I would have."

Edmund smiled at him "Don't worry, that I can definitely promise." He said and wrapped his arm around Edelle's waist.

Eustace scoffed and they heard Aslan chuckle deeply. They all turned around, and found that while they were sorting out their troubles, Reepicheep has come up to Aslan to seek permission to enter his country.

"No one could be more deserving." Said Caspian.

"It's true." Edmund agreed and bowed gallantly, Reepicheep bowed back.

Edelle kneeled down to his level "It was an honour meeting you, noble warrior."

"The honour was all mine, milady." He also kneeled down and kissed her hand chivalrously.

Lucy got down to her knees and looked at the mouse "May I?" she asked the long-awaited question.

"Well, I suppose…" And with that Lucy finally picked him up, and cuddled him to her chest, like she was yearning to do since the moment she saw him. She placed him down and the mouse made his way to his most recent, but not any less close friend.

"But I don't understand, won't I ever see you again? Ever?" Eustace asked, tears in his eyes.

"What a magnificent puzzle you are." Reepicheep said kind-heartedly "And a true hero. It has been my honour to fight besides such a brave warrior and a great friend."

The valiant mouse gave his last bow and they all watched as he swiftly made his way to the little boat, which had appeared a moment before and began sailing up the giant wave. The little boat went higher and higher, until finally he went over the boundary, fulfilling his lifelong dream.

Lucy turned her teary eyes at Aslan "This is our last time here, isn't it?" she asked, inside already knowing the answer.

"Yes. You have grown up, my dear one, just like Peter and Susan."

"Will you visit us in our world?" Lucy said in a trembling voice.

"I shall be watching you always." The Lion assured.

"How?" A tear finally escaped Lucy's eye.

Aslan looked at her kindly "In your world, I have another name; you must learn to know me by it. That was the very reason you would go to Narnia-that by knowing me here, you would know me better there."

"Will we meet again?"

Aslan nodded "Yes, dear one, one day." And the next moment he turned to the wave and let out a loud roar, making the wave spread out, forming a path.

"Your journey in Narnia has ended, but your adventures have not. You still have great challenges and barriers to overcome." He looked at Edelle and Edmund particularly.

They looked at the portal and then saw Caspian approaching them "You're the closest thing I have to family." He said sincerely and looked over them "And that includes you, Eustace." he added with a smile and patted his shoulder.

Eustace smiled back "Thank you."

Edmund stepped forward and Caspian gave him a brotherly embrace. Next were Lucy and Edelle, who both hugged him tightly.

"Thank you, for everything." Edelle said sincerely and Caspian gave her a small bow "It was my pleasure. And I had already told Edmund how lucky he was."

Edelle smiled brightly and did a curtsey of her own.

Meanwhile Edmund came closer to Aslan and bowed to him, hoping the Great Lion understood how grateful he was for everything h had done for him.

Lucy and Edelle came to the either side and hugged him, nuzzling his golden mane. By that minute, Lucy was crying for real and as they parted from Aslan, Edelle put a comforting arm around her quivering shoulders.

Slowly they started walking up to the path in the wave. Halfway there, Eustace turned round

"Will I come back?" he asked in anticipation

"Narnia may yet have need of you." Aslan promised. Eustace nodded, more than satisfied with the answer.

He then walked up to his cousins and Edelle and together they stepped into the portal. Just before they could be swept away into their world, they turned for a one last look at Narnia, Caspian and the Great Lion, knowing that for the three of them, it was indeed the last time.

And the moment later, they felt warm waters wash over them and the ground giving away from under their feet. The four swam upwards, just like they did at the beginning when they were sent to Narnia. As they surfaced, they found themselves in the same place they left-Lucy's room; Edmund and Edelle landed on the bed and Lucy and Eustace- on the floor. They looked over their clothes and, to their surprise, found them completely dry, as if the diving never happened. They watched, as the last drops of water leaked back into the painting, all still reliving their last moments in their magical land.

Just then they heard a familiar stern lady's voice coming from downstairs

"Eustace, Eustace! What are you doing up there? Jill Pole dropped in for a visit!"

Edmund, Edelle and Lucy looked at Eustace, and the boy smiled. They certainly had a lot to talk about now; for the first time in a while, he could honestly say, that he had friends. At that minute, Eustace and Edelle both felt the same thing- they had actually just returned from an adventure of a lifetime, from a different world. And even if they wouldn't go back, they now had something to remember, to hold onto for the rest of their lives.

The four slowly got up from their places and Lucy, Edmund and Edelle watched Eustace carefully pick up the enchanted painting and gently place it back on the wall. Lucy opened the door and they walked out. But before they could close it behind them, they looked at the waves and the small ship in the frame, knowing that it wasn't just a painting anymore, it was a reminder for all of them. Their adventures weren't over; there were still many worries ahead of them and many obstacles to endure. But deep down, they already knew that together they could overcome anything.

Magic was real, and Narnia was real. And no matter what happens, there will always be a spark of hope in their hearts, and belief, that miracles can happen.


End file.
